


Blind sided

by DeadPoolio



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Falling In Love, Kent/happiness, M/M, Sweet hockey gays, Tater is precious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-07-14 06:35:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 44,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7157561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadPoolio/pseuds/DeadPoolio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexei doesn't really know what he was expecting of Las Vegas Aces captain: Kent Parson, But he definitely wasn't expecting what he's faced with.</p><p>Or </p><p>Alexei may have a thing for Kent Parson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alexei doesn't really know what he was expecting of Las Vegas Aces captain: Kent Parson, But he definitely wasn't expecting what he's faced with.

The falconers are in Vegas for a game when Alexei meets Kenny for the first time.  
they've played a killer season this year, every game more intense than the last, but the game tomorrow night is definitely the one hockey fans are most in anticipation of.  
Alexei hadn't really understood why exactly until a few days ago, apparently Zimmboni and the captain of the Aces had a history: in junior league, the articles Alexei read said that Kent Parson and Jack Zimmermann had the most impressive dynamic on the ice In hockey history, Alexei even went as far as to watch some of the old footage of the duo on YouTube and he had to admit they played extremely well together.  
Alexei had played against the Aces before, so of course he remembered Parson on the ice, the man was hard to forget, he was intense, fast and agile, phenomenal. There was a reason everyone was talking about him, and Alexei respected him, most hockey players did.  
Jack played 110%, that hadn't changed at all. In the footage the two clicked on the Ice, completely in sync, watching them play was exhilarating, and Zimmboni had this energy about him back then that was missing now, even crushing the smaller man in numerous hugs after every goal.

As game night neared Alexei started to notice changes in Jack, he was a phenomenal player and one of Alexei's closest friends, so it wasn't difficult to spot the changes in his team mate when you knew what to look out for.  
It started out as small things:  
Jack spacing out in the middle of any conversations in relation to the Aces, Jack would get this very tense and uncomfortable expression on his face whenever the subject was brought up and then he'd quickly excuse himself, rushing off to be alone.  
Then there were the phone calls, Jack spent more time than usual on the phone to his tiny blonde baker boyfriend, mostly trying to reassure bittle that he wasn't running himself ragged with worry.  
Next was the way Alexei had discovered Jack huddled on the tiles of their hotel bathroom the previous night, his hands clenched in his hair and his shoulders trembling while he rocked himself back and forth slowly, repeating some kind of mantra in Quebecois. That had really worried Alexei, he didn't like that Zimmboni was worrying this way. He'd downloaded an application onto his phone a while ago that helped him with stress, he crouched down beside Jack and talked to him softly and clearly, taking his hands and showing Jack the breathing app, that paced your breathing and played naturistic sounds for mediation. This went on for ten maybe 15 minutes before Jack was significantly calmer, Alexei very gently scooped jack off the tiles and carried his team mate to his hotel bed.  
He sat shoulder to shoulder with Jack for a while In complete silence while his friend got himself under control "s'okay zimmboni, I wait till you be wanting to speak with me"  
He'd said, it was almost a half hour later before Jack finally responded, "thanks Tater"  
Alexei patted him on the shoulder reassuringly "You are anxious for game, yes?" Tater could understand that, when he'd first come to America he had been in a constant state of fear and worry, being in a new country with very poor english skills and no friends would do that to a person.  
"yeah" Jack admitted a little embarrassed,  
"is this because of small, blonde captain?"  
It takes a second for Jack to catch on to what Alexei's asking, mainly because the words 'small' and 'blonde' are typically in association to Bitty.  
"Oh. Kenny? Yeah. Yeah, I guess"  
Alexei pats Jack's shoulder again to comfort him "I understand, Is tough to play against friends"  
Jack's brow creases slightly, "no, it's not- Kenny and I aren't friends Tater. Not for a long time"  
Now alexei understands.  
"Oh, you and him are- how you say 'falling out?"  
Jack nods, "yeah, we had a falling out, it's not really his fault, these things are just.. Complicated. Nothing involving Kenny has ever been easy" jack sighs, rubbing at the back of his neck.  
Alexei slings an arm over his shoulder, pulling him into half an embrace,  
"do not worry, zimmboni, I am having your back" 

The next night as they skate out onto the ice, Alexei can see that The reassurance he had spent last night and today providing for Jack has done nothing to help his friend's anxiety.  
To anyone that didn't really know him, Jack looks as fortified and unmoving as a glacier, but Alexei knows what to look for in Jack. Eric had called Alexei before the game to ask him to keep an eye on Jack for him, make sure he's not giving himself a hard time or spending too much time in his own head, Alexei can understand that for Jack that can be dangerous, and he appreciates Bittle asking him, he enjoys the company of the small baker as much as he does Zimmboni, maybe a little more, Eric bakes him lymonnyk and speaks in his native language with him.  
He makes sure to nod to jack, their unspoken signal for having each others back.  
But Jack isn't looking at him.  
Alexei follows his eyes and they land on the captain of their opposition, taking his place on the ice, paying no attention to the breakdown Jack is trying very well to hide.  
Alexei decides he doesn't like small captain man, not one bit.

Jack looks awful.  
He's sitting in his stall, his shoulders hanging heavily and the defeat apparent on his face, he'd tugged his helmet off right away, running a hand through his sweat slicked hair.  
The Aces took the game 3-1, and Jack was clearly blaming himself for it.  
It was obvious from puck drop that jack was thrown off his game, it happens, Alexei and every other guy on the team had bad days, it was human.  
Everyone made sure to reassure Jack of this, and he thanked them for it, but Alexei could tell that he didn't really believe any of it.  
"you okay zimmboni?" Alexei sits in his stall next to Jack, unlacing his skates.  
"Yes" it comes out robotic and forced, Alexei has never met anyone as serious about hockey as Jack Laurent Zimmermann, though he understands where Jack's obsession to prove himself comes from.  
"You play exceptionally, Zimmboni, one game lost is nothing. You call Bittle after shower, make you feel better"  
Jack nods, thanking Alexei for caring before stalking off to the showers.

The team is about ready to head out after showers and various interviews when the invitation to have the Aces buy their drinks at a regular haunt for the players is extended, Alexei understands that this is something Athletes do so they can brag about their victory and simultaneously say 'good game' to their opposition.  
Alexei doesn't understand it, but to be fair, he doesn't understand a lot of things here, he prefers brutal honesty, he understands better when people are straight forward with him, so naturally all the passive aggression goes straight over his head sometimes.  
Jack looks like he's about to go into cardiac arrest.  
"We sit this one out, yes?" Alexei suggests, because he feels like someone needs to tell Jack that he doesn't have to, and he promised Eric he'd be there for Jack if the game didn't go their way. He's fully prepared to call it a night and lay in their hotel room watching the documentaries Jack likes on television.  
"No, we should. Keep up appearances eh?" Jack tries to sound nonchalant, but it falls awkwardly on Alexei's ears. 

Alexei understands that they have a sort of media presence and public face to keep up, it’s part of their job's as professional athletes, and Alexei usually handles it well, he hasn't had any negative media attention in his entire career, people love tater.  
But right now he resents it just a little more than he should, Jack can't openly date Eric, he can't make even the smallest mistake without people referring to him as "Bob Zimmerman lite" and now he's expected to go for drinks with someone who makes him sieze up like a deer in headlights. Alexei wants to wrap him up in his jacket and carry him back to their hotel room.

They go back to their hotel to change, Alexei heavily considers locking Jack in the bathroom and convincing the team to leave without him, but even though it's in Jack's best interest to stay here, he knows Jack will show up, make sure he's noticed showing up and be on his way, probably to call Bittle and get an early night.  
Alexei changes into black slacks and a simple dress shirt, nothing too fancy, but nothing too casual, the Aces seemed like the kind of guys that would be flashing their victory in a 5 star casino.  
"Are you sure you are wanting to go? No one blame you for wanting to stay in, zimmboni"  
Jack seems to consider this "I just don't want people thinking I'm not okay because we lost, my parents, Bitty and all the guys from Samwell have already texted to make sure I'm okay, and you're worried" Jack sighs heavily, sitting down on the edge of his bed and rubbing at the back of his neck, Alexei thinks he looks very small and vulnerable in that moment, "it bothers me a lot, I mean, I usually feel disappointed when we lose a game but... losing to kent is just-" jack groans pressing the flat of his palms into his eyes.  
Alexei crosses the room to sit beside him, draping a heavy arm across his friend's shoulder, "you are feeling like parson is better man yes? This is not true. should not compare yourself, will never measure up to your own expectations"  
Jack looks up from his lap, big blue eyes gazing up at Alexei with admiration and respect. "I- I think I'll stay in tonight, thank you tater"  
Alexei beams, perking up instantly, "you are most welcome, zimmboni, I meet with guys in lobby, make sure to buy expensive drinks" he pats his team mate once more on the back for reassurance before stepping out, feeling reassured that Jack is feeling better, and thankfully not accompanying the team to what is probably parson's way of messing with him.

The bar the Aces meet them at is nothing short of lavish, snowy and poots are apparently thinking the same as Alexei, "Vegas, man"  
Inside loud electronic dance music is blasting throughout the whole venue, bodies are spread over the dance floor, booths lining the left wall containing patrons leaning back in leather lounges while they converse among themselves over the music and The right wall is occupied by an impressive glass bar. Alexei Doesn't know where to look, flashing lights are catching his eye just as beautiful long legged women in scant, black sequined outfits dancing in synchrony above them, on the second story are drawing his attention, the whole room is absolutely buzzing with energy and Alexei is glad Jack decided to stay in because he doubts Zimmboni would feel comfortable in a place like this, Alexei feels slightly overwhelmed.  
"Damn, I gotta hand it to them, they got mad taste" Thirdy hums appreciatively, several of the guys affirm before a beautiful olive skinned woman is crossing the room in confident strides, "gentlemen, please allow me to direct you to our VIP section" she smiles and ushers them across the dance floor to a curtained section at the back of the room.  
Alexei likes this section a little more, there's a small bar being tended by a pretty woman in similar attire to the girl who brought them in, the lighting is low and the music is far less intense. The Aces are spread out on leather lounges, most with a drink in hand, they perk up at their arrival, some standing up and moving to greet them.  
Alexei likes the Aces, they genuinely seem like nice guys in the time he spends talking with them and enjoying his whiskey.  
Several times though, he finds his attention slipping away from him to the direction of the bar, where a certain blonde haired captain is talking with the bartender. Alexei doesn't know what it is, he'd like to blame it on his suspicion of the man, but he can't seem to take his eyes off Kent Parson, the blonde is obviously attractive: big green eyes under golden eyebrows, a sly lopsided grin peeking over the rim of his glass, and Alexei swears he could cut glass on those cheek bones.  
He's had a few drinks now, not nearly enough to be tipsy but enough that he's feeling comfortable and loosened up, so he thinks: what the hell, he's met all the Aces except this one and he would like to suss out small captain to make sure he's not a threat to Zimmboni.  
So, he finds himself downing the rest of his whiskey, and pushing himself up from the lounge, "need a top up, handsome?" The bartender takes his glass immediately, her greeting snapping Kent out of his head, Alexei sees the other man's breath stutter in his chest as he looks over at him.  
Alexei, despite the fan's theories that he is a 'precious cinnamon roll'  
('Zimmboni I not understanding, how can I be small pastry?'  
'It's just something people say, Tater')  
Can appreciate an attractive person when he sees one, and Kent Parson is definitely worthy of a little appreciation, his hair is pushed back from his face, one hand in the pocket of his slacks, made a little less formal with some nike kicks and a black button down that's tight enough to outline muscle definition, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, Alexei thinks he looks great.  
"Claire, you better make that two shots of tequila" Kent doesn't take his big bright eyes off Alexei the entire time, his drink forgotten on the bar "Mashkov right?"  
Alexei takes Kent's offered hand, Kent's eyes widen as he looks up and up and up to meet Alexei's eyes, his hand feels so small clasped in the large Russian's much bigger hand.  
"Yes, and you are Kenny"  
Alexei sees Kent visibly recoil, and jumps to apologize "sorry, is what Zimmboni call you"  
Kent snorts a laugh "Zimmboni?"  
Alexei feels warmth spreading through him at the sound of Kent's laugh, "yes, is name for-"  
Kent waves off the explanation "no, I get it. What do they call you?"  
"tater"  
Kent laughs, his smile incredibly infectious "tater?"  
"yes, is small potato"  
"no, no. I get that, but you let them call you that?"  
"yes"  
"That's pretty fuckin' cute" Kent chuckles, before he seems to realize what he just said, his cheeks flushing, Alexei grins down at him.  
"Uh, fuck, here" Kent holds a shot glass out to him, the lopsided grin re-appearing when Alexei struggles to manage a hold on the small glass.  
"to kicking your ass"  
Alexei grins "we let you have one"

They do a couple shots, and talk about themselves, Alexei showing Kent pictures of his Siberian husky Alyona, "she is named for me, my mama call me Alyosha, is very clever see?"  
Kent lights up at that, fishing his own phone out of his pocket, he types in his passcode and flicks through a few things before moving to stand beside Alexei "this is kit purrson" Alexei looks at the picture of a fluffy white cat curled up on the shoulder of a certain captain. "Is so cute!" Alexei instinctively reaches out to bring the screen a little closer to his face, his fingers overlapping Kent's "she is named for you?" When he looks down at Kent to confirm, the other man is looking right back up at him, his cheeks pink and his green eyes fond, he nods "she's kind of an asshole but that's part of her charm" there's that smile again.  
They talk like this for hours, sitting side by side at the bar and trading stories, occasionally chirping each other.  
Alexei is surprised to find he really likes Kent, he's intelligent and funny, charming as he tells Tater some detailed stories of his cat's shenanigans and his younger sister and mother in new york, his eyes light up with such love when he speaks about them.  
Alexei doesn't really know the extent of Jack and Kenny's complicated relationship, but he realizes he may of been too quick to judge Kenny without knowing him first, having said that there's no guarantee that the Kenny he's with now is the Kenny Jack knows so personally: the Kenny that stirs Jack into a panic without even trying.

By the time Alexei realizes most of his team has gotten cabs home and there's only a few stragglers left of the aces, it's well past 1 am  
"Shit, didn't realize it was so late" Kent indicates to the Rolex on his wrist, "you want a ride back to your hotel?" Alexei can’t say he isn't a little glad for the offer, "yes, thank you, Kent"  
"Call me Kenny"  
Alexei gazes at him a little in awe, and of course Kent is grinning back at him, like he knows exactly what he's doing.  
When they get outside to the parking lot, Alexei has to do a double take of the car Kenny is stepping in, "woah, Kenny this is your car?"  
Kent looks pleased at Alexei's wonder, his eyes following the movement of the Russian's hand smoothing over the roof. "Yeah, it's a corvette, you like it?"  
Alexei takes in the sleek blue frame of the car, he feels like a little kid in a candy store "oh yes"  
"Hop in" Alexei needs no further encouragement. 

The car's radio is playing some pop song while they drive, Kent is a bit of a wild one behind the wheel, but he insists he's just showing off, Alexei can’t help feeling a stab of pride at that, that Kent parson would want to impress him.  
"So, you do much in Vegas?" Alexei finally asks after watching all the bright lights and buildings pass by them, he imagines there'd be quite a lot to do in a city like this.  
"nah, mostly Team related stuff, y'know, New York though,I could show you a good time in new york"  
Alexei glances over at Kent: one arm loosely gripping the steering wheel, the other on the gear stick, his eyes alternating between focussing on the road and shifting to Alexei.  
"I would like that"  
Kent smiles a little at that "maybe next time you're in town I'll show you a little more of Vegas too though"  
"yes, I must meet your cat"  
Kent chuckles, glancing at the digital clock in the car's dashboard "if you're not too partied out we can stop by right now"  
Alexei's heart leaps at the chance, "I would love to, if you are sure?"  
Kent smiles, "course, we wiped the ice with you guys, I'm allowed to celebrate" 

Kent's apartment isn't too far, when they arrive Kent hands his keys over to the valet and holds the door open for him.  
They take the elevator to the very top of the building and Alexei shouldn't really be surprised that Kent would own a penthouse, he just seems so down to earth in conversation compared to the things he surrounds himself with, like he's hiding inside a shell, he supposes Kent and Jack have that in common.  
"Woah" Alexei crosses the room to the large floor to ceiling windows on the opposite side of the room, the city looks very nice from this vantage at night "is so beautiful, kenny"  
He sees Kent standing behind him in the reflection of the glass, a small smile on his face and his hands in his pockets.  
"yeah?"  
Alexei is about to confirm when white movement catches his eye, he turns to see what can only be Kit curling around Kent's legs, nudging up against them and inclining her little head to gaze up at him.  
Alexei forgets the windows and watches Kent, who's squatting to scratch under Kit's chin, Alexei moves till he's in a similar position, his hand hovering over the pet "can I hold?"  
"yeah, if she'll let you, she's a little f-" 

Kent cuts off whatever he was saying when Kit willingly goes into Tater's arms, the giant Russian cradles her with such gentle care that Kent has to wonder how Alexei manages to play such an aggressive sport as hockey with such a huge heart.  
"oh, make me look like an ass" 

Alexei beams, he's always had a way with animals, "she is very well trained"  
Kent barks a laugh "she's a fucker. I've never seen her like this with anyone"  
"she is not so bad" Alexei stands, cradling kit to his chest and scratching behind her ears, Kent scoffs.  
Alexei takes the time to look over Kenny's apartment while Kent is making coffee.  
It's decorated fairly sparsely, the walls are bare and the whole place is in immaculate condition, if Alexei didn't know any better he'd think no one lived here. There's 2 photo frames on the glass table in the hallway entrance where Kenny dropped his keys upon entering, one shows a small teenage girl about 14 or 15 years old with blonde hair like Kent's and a similar smile, the other is a photo of what could only be Kent and his mother, Alexei sees where Kent gets his looks from.  
Kit leaps from his arms and pitter patters off down the hall, squeezing her way into what Tater guesses is Kenny's bedroom.  
The kitchen is visible from the Living room where Alexei walks back to, watching Kent pull mugs from a shelf and flash a smile his way when he spots him looking.  
Alexei ignores the increasing rate of his heartbeat and crosses the room.  
When he walks up behind Kenny into the kitchen, the smaller man startles, chuckling "Christ! How do you move so silently man? Like a fucking ninja"  
Alexei is standing over Kent now, and in the bright glow of the kitchen's over-head light Kenny's eyes appear almost blue.  
"Tater, are you okay?" Kent gazes up at him, apparently realizing how close the two of them are standing together and the way Alexei can't help but look into his eyes.  
"Will you let me kiss you, Kenny?"  
Kent's eyes go wide, and Alexei can see the breath catch in his throat, which is why he's so confused when the blonde looks sad "I don't think you want to do that" he says it like he's confessing to murder.  
"why you say that?"  
Kent seems surprised Alexei would have to ask, "didn't Jack tell you about me?"  
Alexei nods slowly "yes, Zimmboni says you have complicated history"  
Kent snorts at that, "it’s not complicated, I'm a goddamn asshole"  
"You are not bad person, Kenny"  
Kent runs a hand through his hair, his eyebrows furrowed and his bottom lip between his teeth "he wouldn't even like me talking to you, let alone kissing you" he says it with an expression that is somehow resentful and pained all at the same time.  
"I can ask" Alexei has his hand on his phone when Kent grabs his wrist, "no, you shouldn't have to ask his fucking permission"  
"then I do not understand"  
"fuck. Shit okay. Jack and I.. We were just stupid fucking kids y'know? And we were toxic for each other, and when you-"  
Kent stops, before steeling himself and forcing the words out "when you love someone.. The way I loved Jack- The thing is, he was my first, okay? So I had nothing to compare our sick and fucking twisted little relationship to, and it destroyed me when Jack just abandoned me.. Especially after- But this isn't about him, Tater, this is about the fact that I've never had a healthy relationship with anyone, I don't know how- I don't know how to do that. I'm a shitty, miserable fucking person, and I drag whoever is stupid enough to get involved with me down with me and I don't want to hurt you Tater, even if it's just one kiss"  
The confession explains a lot, the way Jack would freeze up whenever his past with Kent was so much as mentioned, The way Kent spent the entire game, avoiding Jack's eye, and Alexei feels so much pain for his friend and the small blonde in front of him now, because he believes Jack when he says that it was nobody's fault.  
He feels for Kenny, because he's clearly not alright, and Jack has his own issues that he's working through, but he has Eric and a whole college team worth of support and of course the Falconers have his back. And here is Kent, in his lonely, impersonal apartment, with no pictures on the walls, suffering silently, drowning in the guilt of a teenage love affair.  
Kent is leaning back against the counter top, looking at Tater like he's afraid he's said too much.  
The kettle popping, finished boiling, startles Alexei out of his contemplation, he clears his throat and squares his shoulders.  
"Kenny, I am grown man, and very stubborn, and I don't want- how you say? I will risk it"  
Kent looks at him, wide eyed and vulnerable  
"Alexei-"  
"is okay if you do not want me to but-"  
Kenny moves as swiftly as he does on the ice, pushing himself from the counter until he's toe to toe with Alexei, craning his neck slightly to look up at him, "Kiss me"  
Alexei doesn't need convincing. Kent's lips are soft and pliant against his own, the kiss starting out hesitant as they map each other's mouths, soft and tentative, testing what the other likes, before Kenny is pushing himself onto his tiptoes and wrapping strong arms around Alexei's neck, licking into his mouth and kissing harder, like this was the only way he knew how, "Kenny. Kenny, slow. We go slow" Alexei moves one hand to hold Kent against him, his huge hand splayed across the flat of Kenny's back, the other coming up to cup his face, tracing the line of his cheekbone with a thumb.  
Kent looks up at him, leaning into the touch like a kitten, "like this" he tilts Kent's face up towards his and kisses him the way he wants to, slowly coaxing Kenny into surrendering himself to it, he's so tense.

It takes a while but eventually Kent relaxes against him, gives himself over to the slow heat of Alexei's tongue, and the firm press of their bodies.  
Kissing Kent is beyond any expectations, it's hot and toe-curlingly good, and when Kent grinds up against him, Alexei holds him closer and grinds right back. 

He spares a second to consider how this may not be the best idea, Kent is Jack's ex boyfriend, who he's not on good terms with, and Jack hadn't even mentioned that he and Kenny were involved romantically and now that he thought about it, Eric resembled Kent in the most basic ways: smaller than Jack, Blonde, both previously playing hockey with him- and, crap he was getting side-tracked, Kent had noticed as much.  
"we don't have to do anything" his face is flushed a pretty pink and his lips red from kissing, hair a little mussed from Alexei dragging his fingers through it and from the close proximity of their faces Alexei can make out the light dusting of freckles covering the bridge of Kenny's nose. Beautiful.  
"is not that. We do whatever Kenny wants" Alexei breathes, tucking a stray blonde curl behind Kent's ear.  
The corner of Kent's mouth tweaks into a grin, "you're a gentleman aren't you Alexei?"  
The way he says "Alexei" does things to Tater.  
He can only swallow at the drying lump in his throat and nod.  
"I think-" Kenny takes his hand, pulling him in the direction of the hallway, leading him into a very nice bedroom, "we should move this to the bed" he grins, pushing Alexei's chest until his knees hit the edge of the mattress and he falls ungracefully on his ass.  
Kit, eyeing the two of them, apparently gets that this may not be something she'd want to be witness to, jumps of the bed and stalks out.

Alexei can feel his heart pounding in his chest, his palms sweating where they're resting awkwardly on his thighs, and Kenny is running his hands up his legs and slipping his fingers inbetween Alexei's.  
Tater, despite the nickname, is a grown man, and this isn't the first time he's been with an attractive man before, But Kenny is... for lack of a better word, Beautiful.  
"красивая" it’s out of his mouth before he can stop himself, exhaled like a secret or confession, Kenny looks up from where he's unbuttoning Alexei's shirt "what does that mean?" His palms are slipping over the, now exposed, skin of Alexei's chest, eyes curious with just a hint of mischief.  
"Beautiful"  
Kent freezes, his hands stopping on Alexei's chest and his chest rising visibly as he takes a sharp intake of breath.  
He's worried he might've wounded Kenny's pride when the shorter man surprises Alexei with a tender kiss.

Alexei pulls Kenny by the hips until the shorter man is crawling into his lap. Straddling him, strong thighs snug against his own, Kenny's body a pleasant weight settled over his lap.  
They're exchanging long, indulgent kisses, Alexei cradling Kenny's face in his hands, quiet whimpers escaping his throat while he attempts to push Alexei's shirt off his shoulders.  
"I help" Alexei offers helpfully, shrugging his shirt off and discarding of it somewhere on the other side of the room.  
"christ" Kenny marvels, his hands roaming over the expanse of bare skin now available for him.  
Alexei is an athlete, and he's worked incredibly hard to get where he is, so it's appreciated when people find his physique attractive. In Russia enhancement drugs were pushed like coke, athletes were pressured into taking drugs, but Alexei's mother and father raised him with a good head on his shoulders, and he'd worked tirelessly to steer clear of that path.  
Having Kent look at him the way he is right now, is the highest form of a compliment Alexei thinks he has gotten (apart from the time Jack introduced him to his college friends and the law student "shitty" practically jumped him, "you gorgeous Russian bastard, taking care of jack for us" he kissed Alexei's Forehead like his mama "you're a motherfuckin' angel, mashkov"  
Alexei simply hugged back and thanked him for his kindness)  
"God, it's like you're chiselled from marble or some shit"  
Alexei chuckles, "not so bad yourself, Kenny"  
He unbuttons Kent's Shirt, sliding it off his shoulders in a smooth motion, and can't help running his hands over Kenny's body.  
Kent is a lot smaller than Alexei, but his body is all muscle, tight and compact, and so pleasing to have beneath his fingers, to feel the warmth radiating from Kenny's skin. 

They shed each others clothes, and then Alexei is staring a little in awe because, every part of Kenny is pretty. He's worried he may be taking a little too long, but when he meets Kent's eyes, now an almost gray color with his pupils blown wide, the pretty blonde is gazing back up at him with similar wonder.  
"Fuck. You're huge everywhere" Kent punctuates this with an upward roll of his hips and Alexei sees stars.  
"am average size, you just small" Alexei Can't help it, Kent only grins, looking proud "don't you fucking chirp me while our dicks are touching"  
"okay" alexei shrugs, rolling his hips down against Kent's, eliciting a pleased sigh from the man.  
"I chirp after"  
Kent laughs.


	2. Chapter 2

The thing is, Kent really didn't mean for it to mean anything. 

About 4 months ago Kent was sitting alone in his apartment freaking the fuck out.  
The upcoming Saturday was the game against the Falconers and the first time he would be face to face with Jack since the complete and utter shit show that was epikegster.  
Not only was he feeling like a top-shelf asshole because of that fiasco (again), But he was also concerned for Jack.  
He would laugh if it wasn't all so pathetic, Jack hurt him just as much as he hurt Jack, seeing him again had the potential to break Kent's heart all over again and he was worried about how Jack would feel?  
He knew him enough though to know that Jack would be tearing himself up about this, certainly not because he was equally worried for Kent, but rather worried at what Kent would do.  
That stung like a bitch.

Kent would never admit it to anyone, but he was hoping the Falcs would've taken this one for the sake of Jack, fuck knows he might just lose his sanity if he was second best to Kent again, which frankly he couldn't ever wrap his head around; Jack was always better than him at everything: hockey, school, feelings, abandoning his best fucking friend.  
He reminds himself that he doesn't have the right to be bitter, not after the way he'd treated Jack at epikegster.  
He wanted- no, needed to apologize, for everything. Jack could deal with that however he wanted but Kent would at least say his piece. He can't keep hoarding ghosts and guilt.

He hadn't, in any way, anticipated what went down.

Naturally, he was feeling like absolute shit after the game, and he needed to talk to Jack, needed to get all this bullshit off his chest so he could finally fucking move on.  
So he invited the Falconers for drinks.  
Jack didn't even show up at the bar, Kent could feel his absence like a crushing weight on his chest, more so than usual because Jack was so close for once and still so fucking far away, like an opportunity that slipped through his fingers.

He was standing at the bar, talking to Claire about her engagement, and drowning in self-loathing and defeat.  
Kent had liked Claire the moment he met her a few years back at the club, she was funny and sweet and was the only person that had ever stopped to ask Kent if he was okay, after so many nights of providing him with alcohol to drown his blood in.  
They spoke a lot, he met her girlfriend Lisa, and they quickly became two of Kent's closest friends, his only that weren't his team mates actually.  
That's when he met Alexei.

Kent had seen tater a few times in past games and he knew Mashkov by reputation, but they'd never spoken to each other.  
Kent hardly even noticed him previously but when Alexei walked up to the bar beside him Tater was all he could notice.  
Mashkov was tall, taller than jack tall, which meant that he was like a fucking oak tree to Kent; all long limbs and muscles. But when Kent looked at his face it was all over for him.  
Tater was like this giant pit bull at first glance and yeah, Kent has a thing for guys that could break him in half and treat him like shit (wonder where that come from, huh?) But then his eyes travelled to Alexei's face: big, warm brown eyes like caramel and the sweetest most disarming smile known to man.

Now, Kent and Alexei had been talking ever since their hook-up, Kenny really wasn't planning on continuing anything. He liked Alexei sure, and he wanted the best for him, which could clearly never be Kent.

Alexei had left his phone number scrawled on a piece of paper on the bedside table with a glass of water, apologizing that he had to leave before Kenny woke and telling him that he looked beautiful in his sleep.  
Kent had rules of course: he didn't do anything past meaningless hook-ups, he didn't fuck anyone he knew and he certainly didn't let men call him beautiful in bed.  
All of these rules were broken in one night, and he couldn't even find it in himself to be mad.  
Tater was like this beautiful, Russian angel that he had no right knowing, let alone being the object of his affections, but as tater said: he was stubborn and willing to fight for what he wanted. 

Kent didn't want to call it dating. He didn't date. The only boyfriend he ever had was Jack and look how that turned out.  
He and Alexei were just.. they just were. Kent really didn't know any other way to explain it.  
This thing between he and Alexei was wholly new and fucking terrifying.  
Kent didn't want to admit that Alexei may be the best man he's ever been with. All his previous relationships (if you could call them that) were aggressive, cold and revolved solely around sex. Then along came Alexei with his tender temperament and his kind heart, smashing down Kenny's strategically built defences one by one. 

It started with Kent texting Alexei to ask if he got back to his hotel in one piece the morning after, and progressed into the two of them texting each other on and off everyday. Sometimes Alexei would just send Kent various pictures of small animals with captions like "is you" or "thinking of you" its ridiculously endearing and never fails to make him laugh.  
They started calling each other after Alexei said he wanted to hear Kent laugh, for someone whose nickname was something as ridiculous as Tater, the man was incredibly smooth.  
Skyping was the next step whenever they got the time, it became an every night thing for them to talk to each other before bed, but it couldn't compare to the few times they'd managed to see each other again in person.  
They'd spend hours together in bed just taking each other apart with the slow, passionate kind of sex that up until now Kent had never experienced. Tater was something so foreign to him: this giant, sweet man that just wanted to give so much of himself to Kent, he didn't feel like he deserved him, couldn't help the thoughts plaguing him that Tater would drop him so fast his head would spin once he saw what he was really like, Jack could assure him of how much of a piece of shit Kenny is.  
Alexei reassured Kent that Jack or anyone else didn't have to know anything if that's not something Kent wanted, and although he couldn't give a fuck what people thought of his sexuality, (he was a damn good player and who he fucked wouldn't change that) he felt sick whenever he so much as considered telling Jack about the two of them, but it also felt like some admission of guilt to be actively keeping it from him, even though Jack really had no right to know who either of them were or were not dating.

Kent was currently on a 5 hour flight to providence, reading through a copy of 'Russian for dummies' that Alexei had gifted him with after Kent said that he wanted to know what the other man was saying in the final minutes of sex, when Alexei would lose himself and slip back into his native tongue.  
He was only half joking about learning the language, but he discovered, after a few choice phrases, that Alexei really liked when he spoke in Russian, especially in bed. What really sold him on learning the language, though, was the way Alexei had scooped him up in his arms and held him against him when Kent offered to learn "my whole time in America, no one has ever wanted to learn for me" he'd said, looking at Kent like he was the most important thing he'd ever laid eyes on.  
Kent still felt warm and fuzzy inside whenever he thought of doing anything for Alexei: something he avoided dwelling on too much, he's never been so good with feelings and he really didn't want to think about what it would mean if he had serious feelings for Alexei.  
Relationships aren't for him.

Alexei had called early this morning to make sure Kent was still coming, he'd been up and ready to go for a run with Jack while Kent was still in bed with Kit lounging all over him. Kent could hear the excitement in his voice.  
"I pick you up when you land, we go straight to restaurant for date"  
His stomach twisted at the D word, even though he and Tater had been on so many he was losing count, it shouldn't freak him out so much, but he really didn't want this great thing to come crashing down on him.  
"Or we could skip dinner and go straight to rough sex in the back seat of your car"  
Tater made a soft, surprised sound "Kenny, don't put ideas in my head like this, Zimmboni be here soon and it be very.. uncomfortable if he show up while I am thinking of you"  
Kent smiled, lazy and satisfied into his pillow "all the more reason to skip out on dinner"  
"I pay good money for reservations, we eat dinner, have sex in bathroom"  
Kent barks out a laugh "deal!"  
Alexei chuckled on the other end of the call "I will see you tonight, kotyonok"  
Kent couldn't repress the grin that spread across his face at the endearing term, surprisingly Alexei made Russian extremely sexy.  
"Yes, you will. Go, Zimms might have a conniption if you make him late for his running or whatever" 

He'd gotten out of bed a little while after the phone call, Kit seemed to understand that he was leaving because she was glaring at him the whole time he made breakfast for her. He'd usually take her with him, but she was a bitch to leave in her carry bag and Kent really didn't want to spend hours attempting to calm her down after five hours worth of rage, he'd rather do more important things with Alexei.  
After working out and dropping kit off to stay with Claire and Lisa for the weekend, he texted Tater a picture of a very grumpy looking Kit, to which the reply was a video of Alexei asking Alyona "do you want to see Kenny?" And the husky barking, twirling the way she does when she gets excited and Alexei laughing at her off screen.  
Kent loved Alyona, she was big and cuddly and didn't seem to have any concept of her own size, she was always crawling into bed with him and Alexei, jumping up onto them on the couch and sitting in Kent's lap like she was a little puppy, She was a lot like Alexei. 

It was almost 7 by the time he landed in providence and the weightless feeling in his stomach was present, this was usual whenever he was seeing Alexei after time apart. God, there was just something about the man that had Kent reacting like a kid with his first crush, did everyone feel like this with their significant other? If so how the fuck didn't they make complete tools of themselves twenty-four-seven? 

After going through baggage claim, he could spot Alexei a mile off, not because he was waving around a sign with "Kenny P" written in glitter pens, but because he stood out like a beacon over every other head in the room.  
Kent's breath caught a little in his throat when he saw Alexei, the 6'4" Russian was looking absolutely breathtaking: he was dressed for their date, a spotless white button down, hugging his muscular form and black slacks that Kent knew his ass would look fucking perfect in, and as if that wasn't enough to make him drop dead, the buttons of Alexei's shirt were opened 2 buttons past his prominent collarbones, revealing the gold chain Alexei had around his neck.  
Kent tries his hardest to keep his fucking chill until they got to the car. 

"Kenny!" Alexei pulls him into a bear hug and slaps his back in that ridiculous 'bro hug' manner that they're reduced to in public, but he bends over low enough to subtly whisper in his ear "I'm so happy you're with me"  
Kent closes his eyes tight and savours the smell of Alexei's cologne for just a moment longer before he wills himself to release his arms from where they've snaked around Alexei's middle "looking good Mashkov" he bumps his fist, flushing a little when Alexei looks him up and down appreciatively, he'd made sure to dress nice.  
"Come, we don't want to be late"  
They were lucky that Alexei was very friendly with virtually anyone, and was constantly slinging his big arms around people, though if Alexei held him a little closer no one seemed to notice.

Alexei's car is a sleek black Jeep Renegade with tinted windows, it's parked a good distance away from any other car in the lot, Kent's heart is already racing.  
Alexei, ever the gentleman, opens his door for him and throws his duffel in the back seat.  
Kent watches Alexei walk around the car to his side, smoothing his hands up and down his thighs in anxiety.  
Alexei's smiling when he gets in beside him, that signature little smirk that's somehow goofy, adorable and hot as hell all at the same time, "Ke-"  
Kent doesn't give him a chance to say whatever he was about to, as soon as Alexei is seated he launches himself across the centre console and pulls Alexei into a hungry kiss by the collar of his shirt.  
Alexei makes a surprised little sound in the back of his throat before he's kissing back, and shit, it always feels so.. Right whenever they're touching.

After a good few minutes of making out, Alexei pulls back, his hair a little messy from Kent tugging on it and his big brown eyes almost black, one big hand coming up to hold Kent's face, his thumb tracing gently over his swollen bottom lip "hello"  
Kent breathes out a shaky laugh, resting his forehead against Alexei's "hey"  
Alexei grins, big and beautiful, and just for him.

As if he suddenly remembers something, Alexei pulls back further, turning to feel around for something in the back seat.  
"what-" Kent is cut off when he pulls flowers from behind them, smiling so big and bright it makes Kent's chest ache.  
"I bought Flowers, is like in American movie, yes?"  
To be perfectly honest, if any man was stupid enough to ever buy Kent flowers he would punch them right in the fucking throat. But Alexei is smiling at him so genuinely, and his cheeks are flushed just a little, like he doesn't know if the gesture is okay.  
Kent takes them: a bouquet of vivid red and pink roses wrapped in red foil and tied with a bow, it's so stereotypical, he has to wonder if Alexei went to a florist and actually asked for "flowers from American movie" knowing Tater that’s exactly what he did.  
He can't resist a smile at that "I love them, thank you"  
Tater flushes deeper, leaning over the seat to press a kiss to his forehead.  
"so.... Backseat?"  
Tater laughs, "no"  
Kent sinks lower into his seat and pouts.

The drive is nice. Alexei keeps one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding his hand, his thumb tracing idly over Kent's, the stereo is playing music so old Kent feels like he's aging 50 years every second.  
Tater is dancing and singing along to serpentine fire. Apparently the man has a real passion for Motown music, says he likes the "groove" of it, Kent really can't complain too much, its pretty fucking cute listening to him absolutely butcher the lyrics with his Russian accent and he's seen how good Alexei moves his hips to the beat, what the hell, man? Disco just works for some people.

Tater takes him to this charming exposed-bricked restaurant that specializes in Russian cuisine. When Kent walks inside, he's looking at cosy wood decor and chandeliers, there's shelves displaying an array of Russian knick knacks, and- now that he looks around.. "Uh, tater, are you sure this place is open?" The whole restaurant is empty, but the lights are on and there's a fire burning in the brick fire place.  
"Of course, I buy place out for night" Alexei says, like this is the most obvious thing, Kent opens his mouth to say something but is promptly interrupted by an elderly couple who look like they own the place, coming in from the back  
"Alyosha!" The woman, who's short and sweet looking comes rushing to Tater, who bends nearly in half to embrace her  
"Galina" the woman, Galina, steps back and smiles as Tater hugs her husband "Ivan" Ivan shakes Alexei's hand firmly once Tater releases him, they're cute, Kent thinks, he can't help wondering if Alexei's mother and father are like this.  
"oh! And this must be ваш мальчик, Kent" Galina turns to him next, pulling him down into the kind of hug his mother gives him when he goes home for the holidays.  
Tater flushes red at "ваш мальчик" like a boy who's parents just embarrassed him, Kent figures he'll make the situation easier on him, "да, я его мальчик , это замечательно встретиться с вами"  
Tater looks at him in astonishment and what simultaneously looks like pride  
"So handsome! And he speak Russian, a keeper eh?"  
Tater is about as red as a tomato now, at which point Ivan slides in with the assist "Galina, stop! you embarrass the boy, besides, they come to eat lets feed you"

Galina and Ivan seat them at a table in the center of the room, Ivan shakes Kent's hand before he sits down "pardon my wife, she get so excited, especially when Alyosha has told us so much about you" he whispers the last part, no doubt for the sake of Alexei, who's smiling at him from across the table.  
"we are very fond of Tater, is best customer, keeps us afloat" Ivan claps a hand on Alexei's shoulder "I get you boys some drinks, take time to look over menu, everything is good!"  
Tater confirms this with "everything" 

Kent gets why they love tater so much, he doesn't doubt that anyone that’s ever come into contact with Alexei absolutely adores him. That's the kind of person Tater is, to know him is to love him.

"I'm sorry, I get so excited that you are visiting and I can't stop talking about you. Galina and Ivan are good friends, they keep our business secret" Alexei assures him as soon as Ivan is across the room.  
He looks a little worried, like he's scared Kent will be upset, "Hey, no, I'm not mad, and I'm sure they're fine. This is.. Really great" Kent, apparently one cheesy motherfucker, reaches across the table and links his hand in Tater's, who squeezes his back.  
"I get the feeling that bathroom sex is off the table now though"  
Alexei laughs "stop"  
Kent really likes his laugh.

Alexei orders for the both of them, borsch and dumplings, which Kent actually doesn't mind, the soup is warm and delicious and the dumplings are unique in the herbs packed into them with variations of meat.  
"I love coming here" Alexei smiles when Kent comments on their meal, "is like coming home again, my mama make best borsch I ever have, she feed it to me when I am sick as a child, whenever I eat it, I feel like she is with me"  
Kent smiles, his chest warming at the love he can hear in Alexei's voice, the way his eyes look so much deeper when he talks about his home.  
Kent is really in deep.  
"is why I bring you here tonight, I can't show you my home, although I want to, and maybe some day I will, but this here, now it is ours and when I eat here when you leave I will think of you tonight"  
He's done for.  
"You're not everyone else are you Mashkov?" Kent can't suppress the fondness in his tone, the way he always sounds so happy when he's with Alexei.  
"is good thing or bad thing?"  
Kent smiles "the best thing" 

Tater goes on to tell him about his family back home, how he was so happy to come to America but still so sad to leave.  
He talks about his Mother, Yeva, and his father, Aleksandr, both hardworking individuals who were supportive of Alexei's dreams to play professional hockey in America, and his younger sister Anya, who wants to be a dancer. Alexei wants to someday convince his parents to move with him, the opportunities for a dancer as talented and dedicated as Anya would be endless.  
Kent hangs on to every word.

"They would like you. Anya would lose her mind, you look just like boys she has on her walls"  
Kent would be a little more flattered if he looked a little more like the boys Alexei kept on his walls.  
"Do they know about you, Your family?"  
"That I am with boys? No, no. I am not ashamed of who I am, but I understand is sometimes hard for people to accept, especially in my country. My family is well known, and sometimes I hear other men making jokes about people like me. My mama and Papa are very proud, but I can't help thinking maybe they would not be so accepting.." Alexei explains, a slight furrow to his brow, and now Kent just wants to do anything to make him smile again.  
"did you have many boyfriends back home?"  
"A few, not many are so serious though" Alexei shrugs, "and not many make me smile like you do"  
Kent feels like he could clutch his chest and fall to his knees.  
Fuck, he should probably say something witty "does that line work for you usually?" Very original, Parson.  
Alexei grins "hah! More and more each time I use it" he winks, and god, he's fucking adorable.

They share honey cake and Alexei laughs at Kent's stories about the guys, and listens intently to him when he talks about his sister and mother, but Kent wasn't really even paying attention to anything coming out of his mouth, he's too busy watching Alexei smile and laugh, completely enraptured.

He has to wonder how in the hell he got so lucky to be sitting across from someone like Alexei in this beautiful restaurant, how he's had Alexei's undivided attention for the past 3 months, in what reality does Kent deserve someone as kind and loving, as Good as tater?

"Kenny, are you okay?" Alexei puts a hand on his, almost completely covering it, startling him out of his head "sorry, I was just.. Thinking" he offers lamely, he hadn't even realized he'd cut off mid sentence.  
"Maybe you think out loud?" Alexei smiles encouragingly at him and he really doesn't have it in him to deny the man of anything.  
"I just-" he struggles to find the right way to put it, "I don't feel like.. I deserve to be with you?"  
Alexei frowns, looking like a kicked puppy "no, shit. That sounded bad. I just really like you, Alexei, and I don't understand why you're with me?" He feels like a fucking child with all this "like" bullshit, and like a giant pussy for being so goddamn insecure.  
"Kenny, you don't see yourself the way I see you" Alexei says, holding his hand a little tighter "but if you could, you would understand, I think. I really like you too" he smiles when he says this, bringing their entwined hand to his lips to press a kiss to Kent's knuckles.  
He feels secure here, like he's finally found solid ground after falling for a long time, but it also feels like a punch in the gut because this means something, and it means he has something to lose.  
Alexei leans closer to him, his voice hushed, "maybe i show you how much I like you, kotyonok"  
Kent feels a shiver roll down his spine, "yeah?"  
Alexei has this determined edge to his eyes that, Kent will not lie, is pretty damn sexy.  
Alexei calls for Galina to pay for their meal, who waves Alexei off saying he paid enough for the night, she sends Alexei home with to-go containers filled with leftovers "you need good food, keep you strong" and hugs them both, making Kent promise he won't be a stranger the next time he's in town.

Alexei punches it to his house, his hand a warm reminder where it's holding Kent's thigh, the barest of grips: just enough to make Kent aware of the touch but starving for more.  
It's absolute torture.

When they pull up in Alexei's drive, Alyona can be seen through the living room window with her paws pressed to the glass and her tail whipping back and forth vigorously.  
Kent thinks she'll have to wait for a proper hello, because if he isn't in Alexei's pants in the next 30 seconds he's going to lose it, and now he kinda wishes he did bring Kit to keep her occupied.

When they get inside Alexei pulls Kent straight to his bedroom, only patting Alyona as he passes her, who gives them both a quizzical look like a child walking in on her parents fucking.  
"you look so pretty tonight" Alexei says, cupping his face in the tender way Kent has become familiar with, he tilts his face up and leans in close enough for their lips to almost, but not quite, be touching.  
They breathe each others air, and Kent knows that this is Alexei's way of asking for consent non verbally. When they were still relatively new he would ask Kent's permission for every touch, eventually Kent got impatient and told him that he's allowed to do anything he desires to him, but Alexei still likes to be sure, a perfect gentleman.  
"What about you? You look pretty damn handsome" Kent bridges the gap between them and presses his lips to Alexei's, going pliant in the firm but gentle way Alexei's arm curl around him instantly, he doesn't feel uncomfortable about how willing to surrender he is anymore, Alexei's arms are a safe place.  
Tater guides them back to the bed, Kissing Kent with the sort of heated passion that he's only ever experienced once before in his life, but this is a gentler sort.  
Alexei is like no one Kent has ever known, like someone soaked up all the kindness in the world and poured it into this giant gangly man, the kind of man Kent previously didn't believe existed apart from Bob Zimmermann.

The back of Kent's legs hit the mattress and Alexei surprises him by lowering his hands to Kent's ass and firmly squeezing before lifting him up, Kent makes a surprised little sound and wraps his legs around his waist, making Alexei smile into their kiss.  
"Stop smiling and fuck me, you big dope"  
Alexei laughs, which just makes Kent want to throw his head back and groan like a petulant child.  
"Why you so impatient always, little one?"  
Alexei chuckles, laying Kent down on the bed and crawling between his legs, he hovers over him, keeping himself up on his elbows braced on either side of Kent's head.  
"Because I want you, and I don't like waiting for what I want" Kent surges forward crashing his lips against Alexei's and kissing him the way he's wanted to all night.  
Alexei indulges him for a while, until Kent's hand slides down the front of his shirt and begins undoing his belt.  
"Kenny" Alexei pushes himself up, sitting back on his haunches.  
Kent audibly groans "what? Why do you keep doing this everytime? I'm not a fucking delicate little bitch you-" he's cut off mid yell by Alexei's lips. 

"I like slow. Like to feel everything, is not race kotyonok, we don't do this just for climax, no?" He's looking directly into Kent's eyes with those big brown orbs, "we dont?" Kent regrets the words leaving his mouth as soon as he sees the way Alexei recoils at them, like he's been punched in the gut.  
He's uncomfortable because he's unsure of his feelings, and he's unsure of his feelings because he's spent so long convincing himself, he doesn't have any when it comes to sex or dating or whatever the hell he's too scared to call this, and when he gets uncomfortable he gets sarcastic and mean, and shit fuck he wasn't supposed to ever cause Tater to look the way he does right now. 

"I- we- this means something, doesn't it? Is why I miss you when you're gone and why I bring you flowers and take you to date, is why I think we do more than just fucking" Alexei looks down at his hands where they're laying flat against his thighs.  
"Yes. Yes, it means something, it's why I'm so scared of the way you make me feel, Alexei. And when I get scared I get mean. I told you" Kent's being honest with himself and another person for the first time, probably since the night he'd showed up at Jack's frat house and told him he missed him.  
Alexei looks up at him uncertainly "is what people do when they have been hurt before"  
Kent nods because he doesn't know what else to do, he's been hurt before but it sure as shit doesn't mean he has an excuse to hurt Alexei.  
"I want you, Kenny" Alexei says, he looks right into Kent's face and says it the way Kent knows he means it, "I want you in way couple want each other" Kent's heart beats faster in his chest, "I want to hold your hand and say you are beautiful, I want to hold you and touch you just because I want to, I want to make you feel so good that you forget about hurting" Alexei presses their foreheads together, his hands on Kent's hips. 

Kent could break this all off right now.  
He could save himself the hurt and the pain that will no doubt come, because its him and all he ever does is cause pain for himself and anyone else.  
He could get on a flight back home tonight and put this all behind him, go back to his policy of meaningless sex with strangers that make him feel empty inside, the way he no doubt deserves to feel.  
He could spare Tater the pain of really knowing him, like he couldn't spare jack.

"You have me" he says instead, pulling Alexei back until they're chest to chest and he can feel the way Alexei's heart is beating just as hard as his.

Alexei kisses him with intent to take his breath away, and Kent gives back just as good as he gets, throwing everything he has into this because for so long he's been holding himself back from moments just like this one, but he wants it now, and he wants it with Alexei.  
He wraps his legs around Tater's waist, using the angle to press their hips to each others and rolling his own up against Alexei's. 

Even through their layers of clothing he feels the spark the friction sends straight to his crotch. Tightening his legs around Alexei, he repeats the motion again and again until their breathing heavy into each others mouths and Kent can feel Alexei hardening against his thigh.

Alexei's hands move to Kent's shirt, those long, thick fingers He loves deftly popping the buttons like an expert. And that's the thing about tater, he's always so good with everything.  
Kent sits up and shrugs out of it, kicking off his shoes while he gets to work on Alexei's shirt. Alexei trails wet kisses from his mouth to his neck, where he mouths at the veins there, sucking marks into the juncture of skin between Kent's shoulder and throat.

Kent arches up into Alexei's solid weight, throwing his shirt in the general direction of the bedside table.  
Alexei pulls back and moves his hands to the gold chain around his neck before Kent stops him "no. Leave it on" His eyes growing impossibly darker.  
Instead Tater removes his belt and lets Kenny push his pants off his hips, sighing at the relief of strain from the tight fabric.

While Alexei continues marring his neck with golf ball sized bruises he'll be wearing hoodies for weeks to conceal, Kent arches his hips to take his own pants off, kicking them off his legs and going straight for Alexei's black briefs, pushing the article down over the firm globes of Alexei's ass and discarding of them with a flick of his wrist.  
"You have no idea what you do to me" Kent exhales.  
Alexei, now with lips swollen red from sucking on his skin, captures his mouth again in a sensual kiss, the slide of their tongues dancing and tangling with each other enough to make his bones feel like liquid.  
"I know what you do to me" Alexei whispers against his lips, and Kent smiles so bright his cheeks hurt, because this is Tater, right here with him.  
"I get-" Alexei motions to the bedside drawer where Kent knows he keeps the essentials, he lays back and looks at Alexei's toned ass when he turns to rummage through the drawer, appreciating the view.

Alexei turns back to him with a tube of lubricant and a condom, dropping them down onto the bed beside Kent's sprawled body.  
"c'mere" Kent loops his fingers under Alexei's neck chain and tugs, liking the feel of the cold metal against his fingers, and liking the way Alexei covers his whole body with his even more.  
Kent grabs the lube and presses it into Alexei's palm, "do you want to?" Alexei looks glad he offered, accepting the tube and slicking his fingers up with the liquid before looking expectantly at Kent.

Kent smirks, spreading his legs on either sids of Alexei's thick thighs, lifting his hips a little to give him better access.

Alexei looks down at Kent's exposed body with carnal fascination, his eyes meet Kenny's as he trails a finger between his cheeks, gently circling his hole.  
Alexei holds Kent's gaze as he pushes one finger past the tight ring of muscles, the lube easing the thick digit the rest of the way.

This part always drives Kent crazy.

Alexei pumps his finger in and out slowly, his other hand coming up to hold the one of Kent's that isn't gripping the sheets like a life line.  
"I can take more"  
Alexei doesn't protest, Kent squeezes his hand as a second finger is pushed inside him.

"Okay?" Alexei's voice is throatier and Kent can see his chest rising and falling heavily.  
His eyes drop down to the hard line of Alexei's cock bobbing obscenely against his abs, a thrill runs through him at the knowledge that it'll be inside him soon, even after 4 months worth of sex it still excites him.  
"Okay" 

When Alexei slips a third finger in beside the others Kent pushes back against them, a pool of precum forming at the head of his cock, threatening to spill against his stomach. Then Alexei curls his fingers just so, and kent sees stars.  
"I'm ready, Alyosha" he whines, the wet squelch of Alexei's fingers moving inside him, making his face flush.  
But it's completely forgotten when Alexei's fingers pull out of him, and he's reaching for the condom, rolling it over his considerable length. And then he's lining himself up and pushing into Kent's tight passage.

Alexei's body brackets his own on the bed, covering him like a safety blanket, his hands tangle with Kent's above his head, pinning them in a way Kent can get out of any time.

Then Alexei starts moving, and Kent surges up to kiss him just to stop from crying out, his thighs hugging Alexei's side while he rocks into him, expertly grazing his prostate with each thrust of his strong hips.

Alexei murmurs what sounds like his name against his lips, his accent thicker whenever they're lost in each other like this. 

"как прекрасно"  
Kent feels his cock twitch, there's nothing he likes hearing more than Alexei rambling in Russian, even if he's saying the sweetest things anyone has ever said to Kent while they're fucking.  
"так хорошо, детка" Alexei moans into his mouth, like he's speaking directly into Kent.  
"Cильнее Alyosha" Kent pants, looping his legs around Alexei's waist, his ankles digging into the small of Alexei's back, encouraging him to move.

Alexei kisses down his jaw and to the markings that are forming on Kent's throat and neck, pressing his face to the crook there.  
Alexei's hips pull back almost all the way, the head of his cock grazing his puckered rim. "Alyosha. Alyosha please" Kent moans, not giving a fuck if he sounds needy.  
Alexei pushes back inside him with an audible groan, his hips pressing against the back of Kent's thighs as he bottoms out inside him. 

 

Kent feels like his whole body is up in flames, he can feel every firm snap of Alexei's pistoning hips in his toes to his gut, his cock leaking a steady flow of pre cum against his sweat slickex abs.  
"Alexei"  
For every roll of Alexei's hips, Kent thrusts back against him, his face buried in Alexei's mess of brown hair, where he can smell Alexei's shampoo and something that's just so.. Alexei.

"Сильнее, приходи за мной моя любовь"  
Alexei groans, his hips faltering before angling directly for Kent's prostate  
"покажи мне" he releases one of Kent's hands to slide between them, jerking Kent to the rhythm of his hips.  
"fuck shit fuck" Kent throws his head back, the heat building in his gut, like water boiling in a pot, threatening to spill over at any second now.

Then Alexei whispers "приходят , ребенок" gruffly in his ear and, Kent lets out a growl that might be Alexei's name or could just be an animalistic sound, arching up.  
His cock pulses and spills over his stomach, painting Alexei's and his own in thick stripes of come, while Alexei milks his orgasm from him.

"Kenny" Alexei follows as Kent clenches around him, the muscles contracting and drawing the orgasm out of him, he buries his face in Kent's hair and thrusts his hips once, twice, before going completely boneless ontop of him.

Kent loops his hands around Alexei's shoulders, holding him against him, the weight of Alexei's pliant body comforting.

"you okay, baby?" Kent's voice is completely wrecked, and he only realises he's just called Alexei "baby" after its out of his mouth.

When Alexei moves to look at him Kent is bright red, and Alexei's smiling like Kent's the most important thing in the world.  
"I'm great" he grins, planting kisses all over Kent's face.  
"we cuddle now?" Alexei asks, completely innocent as if he didn't just fuck the brains out of Kent a few minutes ago.

"I suppose you've earned it" Kent feigns annoyance, which only makes Alexei smile bigger.  
Adorable.

After cleaning themselves off and letting a very annoyed Alyona into the room (turns out she was scratching at the door the entire time)  
Alexei pulls Kent against his chest and draws patterns along his spine with his fingers.  
"Kenny?"  
Kent moves his head to prop his chin on Alexei's chest, looking up at him from under his eyelashes.  
"yeah?"  
Alexei looks a little apprehensive, his hands stalling where they were previously tracing his spine, "I think I am-how you say? -falling for you?" He looks away when he says it, and Kent can feel his heart beating faster where he rests on his chest.  
He looks unsure and a little embarrassed and a lot scared and Kent has to reach up and direct his gaze back to him with a hand under his chin.  
"I think I'm falling for you too" he admits, Alexei holds him tighter, kissing his hair tenderly.  
They fall asleep curled into each other, and Kent feels whole in a way he hasn't felt for years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and criticism are welcome, and thank you to every one who already commented on the last chapter, you the real MVPs  
> Expect plenty more, I'm burning in Patater hell.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack can't shake the feeling that something is going on with Tater.

Now, Jack is quiet by nature, and possibly the only upside to having crippling anxiety is the way his brain can't help but notice things, over analyze things, like the way Tater's been acting for the past 4 months.  
Alexei is his friend, probably one of his best and It's largely because Jack gravitates to extroverts and Alexei is probably the most extroverted person he's ever known (apart from shitty)  
Which is why it's so concerning that Alexei's been so absent lately.

Jack understands that if it was any of the other guys on the team it would be a completely different story, but he spends more time with Alexei than anyone.  
Tater has the same mother hen instinct as Eric (which is probably why they get along so well) And is constantly looking out for him.  
Jack suspects that shitty passed on the coveted guardianship of Jack Laurent Zimmermann™ to Tater, But also suspects that Alexei is simply the kind of person that cares for everyone.

He can't really pinpoint where it started, but could place his suspicions somewhere in the last 4 months.

Jack has a routine, his therapist once said that he feels a need to control everything surrounding him because he can't control a lot of what is inside of him, and Jack can see the logic in that.  
Tater has become a pretty integral part of Jack's routine, They work out together, train together, Tater probably spends more time with him than Eric, and spends about half of that with the two of them together.  
He's not sure who adopted who in the case of Bitty and Tater, but they're both like the others surrogate child, which is pretty confusing. Jack tries not to think about it too much or his head starts to hurt.  
But more often than not lately Tater has been missing in action, and when he is there it's as if his attentions are needed elsewhere.

Bitty insists that Jack just isn't used to sporadic changes, and Tater is a grown man who has his own life outside of Jack's ridiculous schedule.  
"It's sweet that you're so concerned for him, honey, but Tater is probably just getting out there more" Bitty had said.  
He was sitting in bed with senor bun tucked into his lap, Jack was frowning on the other end of their skype call.  
"like.. Dating?" Realization dawned on him like a burst of light.  
"sure, dating, making friends. You can't be his only one, Jack"   
Jack wasn't even really paying attention anymore, he was mentally recalling 4 months worth of scenarios in his head.  
Bitty seemed to notice "Jack, sweetheart, are you okay?"   
"I think Tater has a girlfriend" 

The evidence is all there.  
Whenever they were out together as a team or just casually hanging around at one of the guys places Tater was glued to his phone, and not in the way Bitty is or any one from this generation, actually, but glued like Jack is to his own when Bitty is texting him.  
On more than one occasion Tater has even been called out on it.  
"Yo! Tater, where you been? You haven't looked up from your phone the whole time you've been here" this was said by Thirdy at a barbecue a few weeks back. Tater had turned a slight pink color and quickly changed the subject to how Thirdy's baby girls were doing.

Not only that but Tater's chirps had decreased drastically in the past months.  
If Jack knew anything about Tater, it was that the man was the team's joker.  
Alexei was a funny guy, another reason why Jack enjoyed his company so much, but lately when the guys were all together taking the piss, Alexei was nowhere in sight.  
Jack had wandered off to find him on a number of occasions, and found Alexei talking on the phone. Sometimes in russian so he just assumed he was talking to his family, Jack knew Tater missed them a lot.

Alexei had also been absent from a lot of the team's hang outs, Snowy had commented on how little they were seeing of him lately.  
Jack had been completely clueless.

If anyone was an expert in secret relationships it was Jack, so he really couldn't understand how he hadn't put two and two together with Alexei (granted he spent almost a full year being in love with Eric before he finally realized it, with the help of his papa)

It was Friday morning when Jack decided to finally ask Tater about it.  
They were meeting up for their morning run and Alexei was in a good mood, a great mood considering he'd become fairly secretive in the past 4 months.

"So, there's a documentary on WWII planes on tonight, maybe you could come over and we could have a few beers?" Jack extended an invitation while they were running side by side, He knew Alexei would turn the offer down, even before he said anything.  
"Ah, I would Love to Zimmboni! Only I have important plans on weekend"   
Jack tries for as casual as he can manage "Oh, no worries"   
Alexei slows down, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder "you okay Zimmboni?"   
Jack stops, "yeah, of course. Are you?"   
Alexei sighs blissfully "I am great" the smile was one he had seen before: when Tater was looking at his phone.  
"I've noticed, hah, any particular reason for that?" He can mentally hear Bitty scolding him for prying.  
Tater's smile falters, then comes back shy and a little nervous "I am seeing someone"   
Jack smiles "that's great! Who's the lucky lady?"   
"Oh. Is still fairly new, too early to tell everyone, you understand?"   
"Yeah, of course"   
Alexei looks relieved, he pats Jack's shoulder before they continue their run.

Curiosity is killing him, and he's genuinely interested in this mystery girl that has Tater so happy.  
"So, uh, what's she like? Your girl?"   
"Oh, she is beautiful, Very funny, but-shy. I don't understand why, because she is so lovely. Is like you Zimmboni, she has hard time accepting love"   
The look in Tater's eyes is soft and tender, and Jack recognizes the expression, its the same way he looks at Bitty.   
"Maybe you could bring her for dinner the next time Bitty's in town"

Tater had been perfect when he'd asked Jack about Bitty the first time they met, he was kind and welcoming and didn't ask Jack if his girl was in fact a boy and if that boy was Eric until the three of them were alone.  
So of course Jack would do anything he could to make Tater's girlfriend feel welcome.

The only thing he couldn't wrap his head around was why Tater felt the need to keep his relationship a secret.  
Alexei was typically very open with everything, he was always showing off pictures of his younger sister and Jack remembers a few Occasions where Bitty and he would talk about Tater's dates.  
Bitty was always talking about how great a catch Tater is, and had even helped him with dressing for some of his dates.  
So why all the secerecy now?   
Unless Tater's new girlfriend was famous and they were trying to avoid all the publicity and invasion of privacy. That’s plausible right?

It was still bothering him by Saturday, Jack was up and ready for his morning run after a protein shake, and was just coming up Tater's driveway.  
Alexei hadn't cancelled on their run, so Jack figured he would be expecting him.

He knocked on Tater's door, already hearing Alyona barking on the other side and then Alexei's voice "just a minute!"   
And then a different voice "i got it"   
It was definitely male, there was no way any girl had a voice that deep, but it also sounded.. Familiar? 

Nothing could've prepared Jack for what he saw on the other side of that door.  
His stomach twisted violently and his heart rate escalated rapidly, he was frozen like a deer in headlights and was left gaping on the porch.

Kent opened the door, not really paying attention to Jack, He was keeping Alyona inside with his leg and had yet to even Look at him.  
Jack's brain registered some noteworthy observations.  
He was wearing Alexei's jersey, which fell around his thighs, his bare thighs.  
He was wearing little black jocks and his hair was dripping onto his neck and shoulders, purple and red bruises unmistakably shaped like someone's mouth decorated the tan skin of Kent's throat.  
And oh god, Jack's brain short circuited with mental images of Kent just like this, but younger and wearing Jack's junior jersey.  
Why was Kent answering Tater's door?  
He was fully prepared to turn around and make a run for it.

And then "Kenny who is it?" Oh god, no.  
Kent finally met Jack's stupified gaze, Jack could see the exact moment Horror filled those green eyes. Kent gaped at him and then as if snapping out of some trance, his face shifted to one of abject fury.  
"Motherfuck-" and the door was slammed in his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Queen Ngozi has blessed us with sly flirtations, fist bumps, jack being the proud boyfriend we all know he is and our lord and savior shitty, also Tony and that wink. Good lord don't get me started, I'm going into cardiac arrest as I write this.
> 
> Just a short little chapter from detective Jack's view ( he really misses tater okay, and he's concerned. This has nothing to do with the only person willing to sit through documentaries with him suddenly being unavailable)   
> Next we switch back to Tater, so expect the drama bomb people.  
> If you want to burn in omgcp hell with me, please feel free to message me on tumblr: regeneratedegenerate is the name, oh and send me patater prompts guys, I'd love to write so much more of Kent receiving the love he deserves.


	4. Chapter 4

Alexei slowly breaches the surface of consciousness with little to no real determination.  
Bringing an arm up to his face to block the rays of light seeping through the curtains, his mind registers a few things: there's a solid warmth tucked against his chest, an arm thrown haphazardly across his stomach and muscular legs tangled up in his own.

A smile spreads across his face before he even has to open his eyes.

When he does the first thing his eyes focus on is a mess of soft blonde hair under his nose and pressed against his face, he inhales deeply, and is rewarded with the scent of familiar men's shampoo and sweat, the mixture filling his senses and waking him further.

The night is coming back to him now, and he couldn't suppress a smile even if he wanted to.  
This was his favorite way to wake up: with this solid presence beside him and the warm sensation in his chest, because Kenny is sleeping beside him.

With their own respective schedules, there isn't a lot of spare time where they can visit each other, Alexei has previously never been in a long-distance relationship, and although it's difficult for him to be apart from Kenny so often, it’s moments like this one that remind him it’s worth it.  
All of it, the back and forth trips to Vegas just to spend a night with Kenny, leaving in the morning feeling that crushing weight in his chest, all of it's worth it when he wakes up with Kent in his arms.

Carding a hand through wisps of blonde hair, Alexei pulls back slightly to look at Kent: long golden eyelashes fanned out against those sharp cheek bones he had admired from first glance. Gorgeous, sinful lips slightly dry and pouty, his face so lax and serene where it rests on Alexei's chest, more beautiful the more he stares. The golden freckles dusting Kent's nose make him seem so innocent, as if asleep the world can't hurt him, it's a comforting thought.

Kent doesn't so much as stir beside him when Alexei presses a kiss to his forehead, the sunlight cast across his bare body, half concealed in Alexei's bed sheets. He looks like an angel. The golden curls against his chest a halo.

Then, slurred slightly by sleep "Stop smiling at me, you dork"  
Alexei chuckles, burying his face in Kent's hair, "how you know I am smiling?"  
Alexei's half convinced Kent's drifted back to sleep when, "I can feel it. It's like the room gets brighter around you"  
Alexei flushes, smiling at how sweet Kent can be when he's half asleep.  
"you're doing it again"  
"you make me happy"  
This time he can feel Kenny smile against his skin before pressing those lips to his pectoral in a soft kiss.  
"You're making me soft" Kenny says into his skin.  
Without missing a beat Alexei fires back,  
"You would rather I make you hard?"  
"Hmm, I wouldn't be opposed to it"  
Alexei laughs, "maybe when you are more awake, little one"  
"Give me a few minutes, feels good like this" Kent tightens his arm around Alexei's middle, moving his face to the crook of his neck.

He lays there calm and soft, his steady breathing tickling Alexei's neck, He's considering going back to sleep himself, when Kenny speaks up.  
"You smell good" Kenny sighs, nuzzling his neck before progressing to decorating it with kisses, "like me. Like us" he punctuates his words with a sharp, little exhale as he nips at Alexei's neck, his hand skimming over Tater's abs slowly, raking blunt fingernails through the coarse brown hair trailing to his crotch before loosely gripping his cock.  
Alexei sucks in a sharp breath, feeling much more awake now.

He flips their positions, gently pushing Kenny down into the pillows while he hovers above him, Meeting those bright green eyes as soon as they open beneath him.  
"Hello" Alexei moves in to press a kiss to the corner of his lips, lingering for just a moment before pulling back to look at him again.  
"Hey" Kent grins, shy and lazy. He always smiles like this when they wake beside each other, it's like looking at a part of the young man Kenny might've been before he knew what heart break was.  
Needless to say, it never fails to make Alexei's heart race.

"you are so beautiful" Alexei murmurs, not quite sure if he's saying it to Kent or just thinking out loud, the pink tinge to Kent's cheeks is worth the effort either way.  
"You're just feeding my ego, Mashkov"  
"You make joke when I make you feel something you scared to feel" Alexei presses his face to Kenny's neck, the smattering of bruises satisfying in a possessive sort of way. But, he really shouldn't mark him up like that again, they are in a secret relationship after all.

He mouths at Kent's pulse point, kissing each bruise softly "but I'm feel your heart is race, just like mine "  
When he pulls back, Kent is staring up at him with raw, naked affection. it’s stunning.  
"your heart's racing?"  
Alexei nods, taking one of Kent's hands and holding it to his chest "feel"  
He doesn't take his eyes off him while he holds it there, and Kent doesn't look anywhere but right back up at him.

"You're so- fuck- you're everything I know I shouldn't want" Kent murmurs, reaching up to tuck an errant curl of Alexei's hair behind his ear.  
Alexei cocks his head to the side "but you do want?"  
Kent nods enthusiastically, "so much" he wraps his hands around the back of Alexei's neck and kisses him.  
Even with their combined morning breath, it's sweet enough to make Alexei never want to pull back.  
But he does, instead kissing from Kent's chin to his throat, between his collar bones and his pectorals.  
When he laves his tongue over one of Kenny's nipples he exhales, relaxing under Alexei's lips.  
He treats the other with the same thorough attention, revelling in the sound of Kent's breathing and the way he rolls his hips up against his bare thigh.

When he reaches Kenny's crotch, he's half hard and flushed, dark eyes gazing down at him. Alexei wants to taste him.  
No matter how much they do this (which is a lot, Alexei likes his sex and Kenny doesn't seem to complain) Alexei always feels like he's seeing him for the first time all over again, that night 4 months ago in Vegas is so important to Alexei for a lot of reasons.  
He pulls Kent's body half into his lap, muscular legs sprawled on either side of his own, and the young man makes a small noise of impatience before Alexei bends to take him into his mouth. 

"Oh" Kent exhales, his hands reflexively going to Alexei's hair.  
The way he cards his fingers through the mess of dark brown, is so endearing and tender, which he knows is difficult for Kenny to show but, he's become more and more open with his affections since their first night together.

Kenny, who has been hurt so irreparably before that he hasn't allowed himself to love another since.  
Kenny, who claims to be a heartless monster, but in reality is just a scared and lonely young man.  
Kenny, who Alexei wants to shower with affection, anything to help him realize that he is loved and safe and wanted.  
Kenny, who, unknowingly, holds Alexei's heart in his hands. 

He runs his tongue along the full length of Kent's cock, breathing in the scent of the man where his nose meets skin.  
Alexei has done this enough times to know what Kenny likes, he's mentally catalogued every erogenous zone on Kent's body, memorized every reaction and put himself to good use.

Sex with Kenny is the closest thing Alexei has ever felt to divinity, the kind of love that leaves you feeling like a supernova, a religious experience all in itself.

"Alyosha" Kenny breathes as Tater hollows his cheeks and begins earnestly bobbing his head. He feels Kent's hands gripping fistfuls of his hair, in a way that's more grounding than painful. 

Despite Alexei's size, after their first time, Kent had been gentle with Alexei, as if he were afraid he might break him.  
It makes Alexei's chest hurt to think about.

Alexei slides his hands under Kenny's legs and brings them over his shoulders, making Kent whimper and gently rock himself up into Alexei's mouth.  
Cupping both meaty cheeks in his hands he tongues at the leaking head of Kenny's cock, tasting the bitterness of his pre cum  
And humming around the tip before swallowing him down completely again.

Kent arches up and tugs at Alexei's hair, "oh fuck" he meets Alexei's eye, muscles rippling gloriously under that desert tan as he squirms underneath him.  
the two of them gazing intensely at the other, and then, Kent finally understands what Tater is trying to convey with his eyes, and starts fucking his mouth. 

Kenny is thick and although his body may be shorter and slightly on the more compact side for a professional hockey player, he is by no means small, especially in this particular department.

"Alexei" Kent hisses through gritted teeth, pushing his trembling fingertips through Alexei's hair, making a thorough mess of it.  
Kenny is warm and heavy on his tongue and with every thrust Alexei can feel him building up to the inevitable explosion.

"Alyosha... I'm close" Kenny warns, his strong thighs quivering on either side of Alexei's head.  
It takes a full 2 more minutes till Kenny's groaning and shuddering as he spills down Alexei's throat.  
He swallows around Kenny, some spilling down his chin, before pulling off with an audible smack of his spit-slick lips.

Kenny is breathing heavily where he's splayed underneath him completely boneless, sweat glistening over his tan skin and his eyes heavy lidded where they're looking back up at Alexei.  
Alexei turns to press a kiss to Kenny's ankle before taking both legs off his shoulders, rubbing circles in the muscles of Kenny's thighs.  
"Come here" Kent holds his arms out and quirks his lips into a cute little smirk that Alexei recognizes as the look he's usually faced with when Kenny wants in to his pants.  
Alexei grins, crawling up his body and pulling the smaller man into his arms.

Kenny drags his thumb across Alexei's bottom lip, pressing his lips to Alexei's before attempting to push the larger man onto his back.  
"let me-"  
Alexei stops Kenny before he can repay him, he's too far gone to last anything like what he'd just given.  
"Would not take very much. Your hand is enough, kotyonok" 

Kent nods, taking Alexei in his fist while those big green orbs are trained exclusively on his face.

Alexei loves everything about Kenny, in fact, he believes Kent might be the most beautiful, breathtaking man he's ever met, but, he thinks Kenny's eyes might be his favorite thing about him.  
Usually they're a deep emerald green, but, depending on the day or the angle or lighting they can be a range of colors from piercing blue to a stormy grey.  
Alexei could lose himself in them.

It doesn't take much, a few strokes of Kent's calloused palm, their faces pressed against the others and Kent whispering against his lips, things he can't really pay attention to as he chases the tingling sensation in his body.

He comes with a guttural growl, his body seizing up before going completely pliant as the last rope of come is spilled across Kenny's fist.

He buries his face in the crook of Kenny's sweaty neck, trying to steady his breathing, while Kent strokes his hair with one hand and brings the other to his lips.  
Alexei lifts his head to watch Kenny, his mouth agape when the smaller man licks across his knuckles, he smirks wickedly then before sucking the come from each of his fingers.  
It's filthy and lascivious, and it would make him want to blush if he and Kenny hadn't already gotten very well acquainted with each other physically in the past four months. 

"Should probably shower" Kent murmurs some time later, after they've come down from their post orgasm daze and are laying entangled, Alyona curled up on their legs.  
A quick glance at the digital clock beside the bed confirms that, it's still early and although Alexei would love spending all day in bed with Kenny, he was planning on some good old fashioned wooing, starting with lunch, a picnic (specifically because Kent had outwardly stated how much he hated them and Alexei liked a challenge) Someplace nice and secluded where they could feel comfortable, and after, he really wanted to take Kenny to see the new iguanas at the aquarium, they were Alexei's favorite.  
"I wish we could never leave bed, would hold you for longest time" Alexei speaks into Kenny's neck while Kent strokes his hair, blunt nails scratching his scalp as fingertips card through his mess, there's nothing better than just laying like this with each other.  
"I'd like that" is all Kenny says, smiling against his temple.

When they do finally move to the shower, Alexei washes Kenny, standing pressed to the smaller man's back under the hot spray of water before washing himself, if he lets Kent wash him down, they'll spend all day in there together (which has happened), the man has no impulse control, especially when Alexei is naked and Kent has free roam of him.  
Kent is brushing his teeth and grinning like a Cheshire every time he bends over to spit in to the sink.  
He's wearing Alexei's jersey and just his underwear, his go-to outfit whenever he stays the night, which might be because Alexei refuses to let him wear anything else. It just seems like such a crime for all that beautiful flesh to be covered up, especially when they're alone, Although he does get the feeling that Kenny gets a little thrill out of it too, solely because Tater can't keep his hands off him when he's strutting around in his clothes.

"Kenny, you are playing with me" Alexei finally says, his eyes immediately dropping down to the perky globes of Kent's ass in those black jocks, how can he even be mad at him for that?  
Kent does his best 'I-have-no-idea-what-you-mean' face, which is admittedly adorable, and should be illegal.  
"I'm not playing with you, Alyosha. Unless you want me to" he smirks, always a tease.  
Alexei is about to make a comeback when they're interrupted by a knock at the door, swiftly followed by Alyona going into attack-mode.

"who's here this early?" Kent rinses off his toothbrush, setting it in the cup beside Alexei's own before slipping back into the bedroom.  
Alexei shuts off the shower "just a minute!" He grabs his towel, drying himself off quickly, he couldn't think of anyone who could be here this early, unless it was just the mailman, Eric had a habit of sending care packages. He was fairly certain he'd already told everyone he was occupied this weekend.

"I got it" Kenny calls back, as Alexei wraps the towel around his hips, moving quickly in case it's a visitor and he has to come up with an excuse to get them out of here.  
He hears Kenny opening the door, and Alyona making a fuss, "Kenny, who is it?" He calls, walking through the bedroom to the hallway just in time to see Kenny bark out a curse and slam the front door like he's saving his own life.

Kent is standing with his weight thrown against the door like a barricade, his eyes wide as he looks up to meet Alexei's gaze, He looks like he's just seen a ghost.  
"Kenny, baby, what is wrong?" Alexei slowly comes forward, one hand raised and held outward while the other tightens it's grip on the towel keeping him modest.  
He doesn't think he's ever seen Kent look so shaken up before, it's terrifying.

Kent hesitantly peels himself from the door and starts across the floor, he looks like he's shaking.  
"Jack- Jack is outside, fuck. Fuck, I have to go-"  
Alexei catches him by the arm as he tries to get to the bedroom, and yes, he's definitely shaking, but from fear or anger, Alexei has no idea.  
"No, don't leave. I handle this, wait for me in bedroom" he tries to come across self-assured and calm, he knows it's important that he remain level-headed in a situation like this, which could be equally distressing for both his lover and his best friend.  
Kent nods meekly, and Alexei has to stop himself from taking him into his arms and holding him until he calms down. 

He avoided dealing with this, and he knew that at some point he would have to, but he was hoping when they were outed it would be their decision, and it would've helped if Jack and Kenny had reconciled by then.

But, as they say, he has to deal with the hand he's dealt, and he intends to open that door and no matter what Jack's response is he'll be telling Zimmboni that he's with Kenny and that he intends to stay with him, and he prays to god that he won't hate him for it. 

Taking a deep breath, he steels himself and crosses the room to the door, his stomach twisting tight, and nervous.  
It feels like he's reaching for the door knob in slow-motion, his hand closing around it while he swallows hard, turning the knob and pulling the door inwards.

Jack is still standing with a stupefied expression plastered on his face, he's wearing a hoodie and some nike shorts and-  
shit.  
Alexei was so distracted with thinking of Kenny all day that he forgot to cancel their morning run, which Tater usually makes even on days he's busy.

Jack looks up at him with a questioning look in his blue eyes, like he can't wrap his head around the situation at all.  
His whole demeanor comes across awkward and uncomfortable, and it makes Alexei want to immediately comfort him.

"Zimmboni, I am sorry for confusion" he starts, gripping the towel draped around his hips and sparing a second to wish jack would've caught him at another time, a time when he was wearing pants, for example.  
Jack just looks at him with wide eyes and no emotion discernable on his face, like he's paralyzed.  
"Please, come in, I will make myself decent and we talk" he opens the door a little wider, stepping aside and ushering Jack inside, he's a little awkward but given the situation it's more than acceptable.  
Jack hesitates momentarily, like he's weighing Alexei's offer in his head, then he nods jerkily and steps past him.

Alexei closes the door and turns to see Jack standing uncertainly in the entrance to the living room, like Alexei's home is now completely foreign to him.  
"Make yourself at home, I get you something to drink" Alexei heads off into the kitchen, his whole body feels like it's set to blow, and he really, desperately wishes that this situation had come about differently.

Jack trusts Tater, he was honest about his relationship with Eric and he told Alexei about his mental health issues even though it was difficult for him to talk about such things, and Alexei has been lying to him for months about a relationship with his ex boyfriend.  
He'd always considered himself a good person, his parents had raised him to be the kind of man he is, but, right now he doesn't feel like a good person at all.

He sets a glass of water on the coffee table in front of Jack, who is looking tense and like he would rather be anywhere else but here.  
Tater can't stand him looking like this.  
"I am sorry" he places a hand on Jack's shoulder, squeezing gently.  
Jack looks up at him "Ta- Alexei, I don't-"  
They're interrupted by Alyona and Kent, the latter now dressed, Alexei's jersey discarded and replaced with a hoodie thrown haphazardly over his chest.  
Kent's duffle is slung over one tense shoulder as he scurries down the hall, with a concerning expression on his handsome face, Alyona trailing after him curiously.

"Kenny"  
Kent, startled, whips his head in the direction of Alexei's voice, then spotting jack on the couch, he motions to the door awkwardly "i was just.. Leaving, this was an obvious mistake and I- I'll see you around, mashkov" the last is choked out in a rush, Kent's forcefully composed face crumbling for just a moment before he tears his eyes away.  
"Woah Kenny, wait" Alexei rushes across the room like his body is on auto-pilot, narrowly avoiding bowling Kent over in his desperation to get to the other man before his hand reaches the door knob.  
"Don't. Don't leave, we do this together, yes?" He settles a hand on each of Kent's broad shoulders, pulling them chest to chest and bending till he can press his forehead to the smaller man's.  
"I can't" Kent shakes his head, pulling back from Alexei, but not completely out of his arms, his eyes are determinedly avoiding his own.  
"You not have to, We can" Alexei tilts his chin up until those lovely eyes finally give in and fall on his own.  
His Kenny is so wild and pained, it makes his chest ache.  
"Stay, I will let you go if you want that, but first we do this?" Alexei's heart feels like it's slowly being crushed as Kenny stares up at him.

This could be it, he's realizing, this could be the last time he has Kenny as his own, the last time he can hold him, the last time he'll make him happy. The thought in itself is devastating enough to make his eyes burn and itch. 

Kent nods, his conflicted emeralds shifting to a determined gaze that makes Alexei's chest swell with pride and admiration.  
His Kenny is brave.

A minute later when Alexei has thrown on a pair of loose fitting shorts and is sitting on the sofa across from Jack, Kenny by his side, Alyona is debating who she'd rather get attention from, jumping up onto Jack and sitting in front of Kent like she's afraid he's going to try leave again.  
Alexei's afraid he's going to leave too.

They're sitting in a tense and heavy silence, Kent staring at his lap and Jack shifting his gaze between the two of them curiously.  
Alexei is about to break the silence and just tell them to speak to each other, when he's promptly beaten to the punch by Kent.

"I didn't plan this. It has nothing to do with you. I'm not trying to come between your team and I haven't even tried to contact you since-"  
Alexei looks across at him, but Kenny is still staring at his lap.  
"I'm not fucking Alexei just to screw with you, I know its an inconvenience but you should be used to that from me, of all people"  
Alexei feels like he should say something, because Kent is becoming increasingly colder the more he talks and Jack looks like he's just been slapped hard across the face.

"What Kenny is meaning to say is that, we are together-"  
Jack's eyes grow wider, and Kent is now staring at Alexei like he's somehow surprised by this statement too.  
"Kenny is-" 

He knows what he wants to say, but he also knows Kent is terrified of commitment and that he shouldn't just declare him as his boyfriend incase Kenny freaks out and leaves infront of Jack.

"Boyfriend. I'm- we're- boyfriends" Kent blurts, surprising Alexei and Jack.

Kenny, not even looking at Jack, stares back at him a little sheepishly, a pink tinge to his cheeks that spreads deeper when Alexei takes his hand in his.

"wha- uh- when?" Jack stutters, looking between the two of them like they're speaking a complete different language.

"We meet months ago in Vegas, after bad game, you remember?"

Alexei can see Jack mentally thinking back to the game in question.

 

He'd left Kent's apartment around 7 that morning, after internally fighting with himself for around half an hour debating whether he could get away with a few more hours of laying with Kent's body tucked into his own, He knew he should leave, that this was a one-time thing, that plenty of men before him had probably attempted to pin Kent down and failed because the truth of the matter was that Kent didn't want anything more than what he had with his hook ups, and even if Alexei really wanted to change that, he couldn't.  
Still, he couldn't resist scribbling down his number and leaving it behind, just in case, he told himself.  
This way he could at least be confident in the knowledge that he tried, and wouldn't be eaten up inside by what could of been, this was his way of reassuring himself that he had done all he could, and if Kent did call him, he'd know it was Kenny's choice to take the shot.  
He'd brushed the soft blonde hair back off Kenny's forehead and pressed a lingering kiss to his temple.  
"I will see you again, little ace"  
He cuddled Kit one more time for good measure and left.  
When he'd gotten back to the hotel Jack was already awake, sitting at the small circular table eating breakfast and reading a newspaper, when Alexei walked in he looked up at him with an amused smirk  
"Good night eh?"  
Alexei chuckled, throwing himself across his made bed "better than yours, Zimmboni"  
Jack laughed at that, "you hook up?" 

Alexei could appreciate that, although Jack clearly had no interest whatsoever in his personal affairs, he would still try to make conversation, and maybe if Alexei hadn't spent the night with Jack's childhood sweetheart he would feel inclined to share, but it wasn't anything he felt he should talk about, and he doubted Kent would appreciate it.

"What they say- 'What happening in Vegas'-" 

"-Stays in Vegas, yeah" Jack smiles, "I'm glad you had fun. Bitty's sending you pie today to thank you for looking out for me" 

Alexei groans, already imagining whatever beautiful pastries Bitty would be gifting him with "Eric is such angel, I steal him from you" 

Jack laughed at that, moving from the table to his own bed, throwing one pillow at Alexei's head that he only caught and pushed under his head with ease.

 

Now, Jack's eyes widened in realization, "you hooked up with Kenny that night?" 

"Don't act so shocked, Zimms, I answered his door in my underwear for fuck's sake" Kent rolls his eyes, flopping back onto the couch like a child that's been made to sit in one place for too long.

"быть хорошим, ангел" Alexei admonishes, sweeping some of Kent's hair back, and kissing his temple.  
He understands why Kenny is coming across a little rude, explaining their relationship to Jack was no where on their shedule today or even in the near future for that matter, but he also needs to keep Jack and Kenny, at the least, civil.

"Я не ангел, Вы хотели бы , чтобы я показал вам" Kent smirks, making Alexei regret ever letting him learn Russian now that his boyfriend only uses it to toy with him.  
Still, he can't stop his cheeks heating up at the unbidden thoughts of what he would like to do to Kenny with that mouth of his right this minute if they were alone.

"Wait- you know Russian now?" Jack, thankfully, interrupts before Alexei's mind wanders too far. Apparently Kent's ability to speak a secondary language is even more shocking than the fact Alexei is dating him.

"Kenny is very good learner" Alexei beams proudly, secretly thrilled at the opportunity to boast about his boyfriend to another person for once and not just to himself, if he could have things his way everyone would know just how much he adored Kenny. 

"I had a halfway decent teacher" Kent hums, his eyes flicking to meet Alexei's with a fond look in them.

"And.. You're happy?" Jack's voice has him tearing his eyes from Kenny.  
His friend is sitting rather awkwardly still, and Alexei realizes that Jack is looking at Kenny, asking Kenny.

Kent scoffs, but it does nothing to hide his surprise at Jack's genuine care.  
"Don't flatter yourself Zimms. I'm over you"  
Alexei squeezes his hand and gives him his best "don't be an ass, Kenny" look, considering leaving the two alone to make up would be an option if he didn't think Kent would be an utter diva about it as soon as he was out of ear-shot.

Jack, surprises them both by simply smiling, "clearly" he gestures to Kent's neck with an amused grin.

Kent promptly flushes 3 shades darker "shut the fuck up, Zimms" he laughs, shaking his head before burying it in his palms, laughing into them.  
His laughter carry's on for 3 minutes before, "This is the weirdest fucking conversation I've ever had" Alexei hears him wheeze, his shoulders shaking while he giggles, Jack's joining in now too, "I'll second that, eh" 

"You should've seen his face when I opened the door" Kent leans into his shoulder, laughing against his arm, his eyes are crinkling at the sides from smiling and Alexei wraps his arm around him instantly, pulling his giggling boyfriend into his chest.

"You make my Kenny laugh, Zimmboni!" Alexei grins, he hasn't seen Kent laugh this hard since that night he forced Alexei into a cat onesie and made him meow for him.  
("Kenny I'm not seeing why I should wear this"  
"c'mon you'll look cute, man!"  
He'd almost passed out from laughing so hard he forgot to breathe) 

Jack grins, observing the two of them as Alexei kisses Kenny's flushed cheeks and Kent finally stops laughing hysterically to card his fingers through Alexei's hair.  
They're good together, he thinks, comfortable with one another, like him and Bits. seeing both of them so happy warms his heart and he doesn't even think before pulling out his phone and snapping a few shots of them. The way they're looking at each other with all that naked affection, and the early morning light coming from the large window behind them paints a perfect scene for the shots. He quickly texts one photo to bits with the caption "I was right" 

"I- uh, I guess I should go" Jack stands, sliding his phone back into his pocket and motioning to the door "I've still gotta run, and you guys look like you could use the privacy" 

Alexei's about to protest when surprisingly Kent cuts in, "you should stay. Alexei and I don't mind and you could probably use the company right? I- mean, if you want to" he's standing too now, glancing back over his shoulder for confirmation from Alexei.

"Kotyonok is right, Zimmboni, you spend day with us" 

Jack snorts, holding back a laugh while a smile spreads across his face "did you just call him Kitten?" 

Kent's about as red now as the filling of Bitty's cherry pies, he crosses his muscular arms across his chest (which Alexei never ceases to find adorable) and huffs "Shut the fuck up, Zimmboni" 

Now its Jack's turn to go into hysterics.

 

Jack stays, and it's not awful. Alexei was terrified that having Jack and Kent in the same room was going to be a death-match, but instead the two of them fall back into something resembling friendship as if nothing had ever changed between them.  
Jack laughs at Kent's jokes and congratulates him on his win last week, Kent listens eagerly as Jack talks about his new life in providence and adjusting to the team, he's comfortable with the guys now and Kent looks genuinely happy that he's happy.

Alexei may not know all the details of Jack and Kenny's relationship, but he's glad they're on better terms now, and hopes for his sake and Kenny's, that they stay that way, Kent's been through too much, too fast and he can see just by the way Kent looks at Jack that he missed him, a lot more than Alexei could ever hope to comprehend.

They watch a few movies, Alexei pulling Kenny into his lap and holding him like an oversized stuffed animal while they're watching a horror movie, which Kenny grumbles about and pretends he doesn't like, but snuggles back against his chest anyway.  
They get breakfast and Kenny has to leave soon so he can make it back for afternoon practice, but other than that Alexei feels great. Jack and Kent are chirping each other about who was the worst in their teenage years while they recount some of their stories for Alexei.  
Alexei's favorite is when Bob took Kenny and Jack along to some charity gathering for the penguins and Kent got all flustered when Sidney Crosby winked at him while shaking his hand, Jack had to spend almost an hour calming him down in the bathroom.

"Fuck off, Zimms, Crosby is hot!" Kent huffs indignantly, Jack, who's laughing at him from the opposite couch, raises an eyebrow "really? I thought Malkin would be more your taste"  
Alexei represses grinning incase Kent chooses to fire on him instead for being a traitor.  
"Oh as if you don't have a type"  
Jack's eyes shift to Alexei as if to tell him "stay quiet, he'll never let me live it down"  
Alexei had failed to mention Bitty to Kent up until this moment, mostly because he didn't know how he would react to hearing that Jack was dating, It didn't take a college education and a degree to deduce that In some way Kent would always love Jack.

"I saw that!" Kent points an accusing finger at the both of them, "what aren't you two telling me?" He glares at Jack with a look that could kill and gives Alexei puppy dog eyes, which would look ridiculous on a grown man were it not Kenny, crawling half into his lap. "Alyoshaaaa- don't you want to tell me?" He practically purrs, batting his eyelashes, Kent could be very determined and persuasive when he wanted something.

Jack knew that, "Tater" he warned, Alexei looked over at him with 'help me' eyes, as Kenny pressed his palms flat against his chest, "he is so pretty, Zimmboni" Alexei whined, trying to ignore Kenny's fingertips tracing his skin through his shirt.  
"He will never shut up" Jack emphasizes every word, which Alexei considers before his face is guided back to face Kenny's, who's looking up at him through his eyelashes innocently, well about as innocent as Kenny can seem, around the two people who know him best.

Kent pouts, again, something so ridiculous that just makes Alexei want to fall to his knees and bestow upon Kenny his every whim and desire.  
"If you ever want to see another pie in your life, Tater, you better not say anything" Jack finally caves, knowing he stood no real chance of threat when Kenny's falling all over Alexei like some touch-starved virgin. Bitty would be ashamed that he would ever hold such a thing as pie over Alexei's head, but considering it was to take the satisfaction of annoying Jack from Kent Parson, he's sure Bits would find some way to forgive him.

Alexei makes a noise of horrified shock, turning to Kent "I'm sorry, Kenny, I cannot tell you" he confesses, much to the irritation of his boyfriend, who scowls at him as if he's just betrayed him in the most disgusting way possible.  
Then Kent's brows furrow and he quirks his head to the side in consideration, Alexei thinks he looks like Kit when he does that.  
"Pie..." he mutters.  
Then bouncing out of his seat entirely, "HOLY SHIT. HOL-Y S-H-I-T" he emphasizes, his eyes wide and amused, a sinister little smirk already plastered across his handsome face.  
"Your teammate, that college kid!" Kent clicks, fumbling for words.  
Jack is looking at him in abject Horror.  
"About knee-high, Twinky Haircut, real southern belle type?" He provides, still clicking and visibly struggling to conjure up the name.  
Jack's brow furrows at the unflattering description Kent just gave of his boyfriend, opening his mouth to no doubt tell him off when Kent interrupts, "BITTLE!" he grins even wider now, "that was his name, Bittle!" He's looking at Jack like a shark circling its prey, "oh boy, you really do have a type, huh, Zimms?" He laughs, pounding the air with his fists.

Alexei looks to Jack in concern, But Zimmboni is only chuckling at Kent's ridiculous enthusiasm, something he no doubt wasn't expecting from his ex boyfriend after discovering the identity of Jack's new boyfriend.  
Jack's pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head like an exasperated parent, but his smile betrays his actions, and Alexei is just so glad that Kent and Jack are able to have such positive effects on one another. 

Alexei glances at his wrist, his stomach twisting up and sadness threatening to fill his gut, "Kenny, time for flight" Alexei stands from the couch, regretting his words as soon as Kent stops celebrating and his smile falls from his face.  
Kent nods, attempting to smile for him but it doesn't reach his eyes, and Alexei knows it’s solely for his own benefit, He hates watching Kent leave and he knows how he must look right now.  
Jack's looking at him sympathetically, he, no doubt, knows exactly how Tater feels,  
"You coming, Zimmboni?" Alexei asks, partially because he doesn't want to be alone and partially because he knows Kent would probably appreciate the little bit of extra time to spend with his friend.  
"Yeah, if you want me to?" He looks between the two of them, gesturing over his shoulder to the door when they affirm, "i'll go wait in the car"  
"Take Alyona, she be wanting to give proper goodbye to Kenny" Alexei tries to sound a little better than he feels, Alyona misses Kent almost as much as he does, four months is a long time to become used to a person, even if they spend more time apart than together.  
Jack calls for her to follow him as he heads out the door, leaving Kent and Alexei alone again.

Alexei pulls Kent into his arms as soon as the door is closed behind Jack, he kisses the top of Kenny's head, inhaling the scent of his own shampoo from this morning's shower, "you say we are boyfriends" Alexei exhales, he's been wanting to bring it up ever since the words left Kenny's mouth, but he's only now just gotten the opportunity to do so.  
Kent nods into his chest, "we are.. aren't we?" He sounds uncertain, like Alexei could possibly have any other answer than yes.  
"I was thinking I ask, soon. Feel too much for you to be so casual, Kotyonok" Alexei releases Kenny slightly so he can find his lips, easily letting himself get swept up.  
"we should be leaving now" Alexei tucks his hand under Kenny's chin, staring down into those eyes he loves so much, eyes he'll miss once Kenny's gone.  
Kent nods, reaching up to pull him down for another kiss, Alexei can feel the silent 'thank you' in it.

Alexei drives with Kent's hand linked in his, Jack sitting in the back seat with Alyona, who looks torn between being upset that Kent is leaving and excited that she's in the car.  
Alexei squeezes Kenny's hand while they drive, mentally working out the next time he can see Kenny again, it's going to be harder, Especially mid-season, But just a glance at Kent, mouthing along the words to Alexei's old music, his face turned to the window, eyes bouncing over the passing streets and his hand carding through his hair, and he knows that all the struggle will be worth it.

Jack hugs Kent in the parking lot of the airport, ruffling his hair fondly and patting Kent's back in an almost instinctual manner "I'll call, yeah?" He smiles, and Alexei wants to tackle Jack and hug the life out of him for what he's doing, putting the effort in to try with Kenny, He almost starts to cry. This wonderful man, Jack Laurent Zimmermann, who's willing to put aside whatever pain they have between them, Because he wants Kent and Alexei to be happy together.  
Kent looks surprised, like he might've just dreamt up what Jack said, but he shoulders his duffel and puts on his professional face, "sure, Zimms" he bumps his fist and moves on to crushing Alyona in a hug.  
Alexei snaps a quick picture of them, Kenny's face buried in the husky's soft fur, it's such a touching moment for him, His boyfriend who's not much of a dog person but adores Alyona simply because Alexei does too.

They kiss quickly before Kent turns to walk inside, His face composed but his eyes a little sad.  
Alexei fishes around in his glove compartment for the gift he planned on giving to Kenny.  
"Alyosha, what's this?" Kenny asks, his voice soft and fond, a hint of curiosity beneath the surface.  
Alexei places the wrapped gift in his hand, and smiles, "open" he insists.  
Kent tears the wrapping paper away hastily, his hands smoothing over the gift when it's presented.

On their first real date, Kenny had taken Alexei to a 24 hour diner in the less glamorous part of Las Vegas, Kent insisted that this small diner had the best burgers he'd ever had.  
The diner was run by an old tattooed man named Vaughan, who chirped Kent like it was going out of fashion and insisted that everything they could possibly want was free. Kent had permanently bought out the location and donated money out of his own pocket to help Vaughan and his daughters Keep the place running, insisting he was just too selfish to pass up the best hangover food in the state and not because he genuinely liked Vaughan's punk attitude and his hard exterior but kind hearted center, he reminded Alexei of Kenny that way.

Alexei had framed a photo taken that night, his arm around Kenny's shoulder and the two of them Smiling, not at the camera, but at each other.  
When he thought of Kenny Alone in his Cold apartment with bare walls and no memories to hang on them, he knew he wanted to give Kent a Memory of their own to give just the slightest feeling of home to Kent's house.

Kent held the photo frame now, his lips quirking up into a grin, he slid the frame in his bag and looked back up at Alexei, "Maybe I'll send you some pictures when I get home" he winks, glancing around the lot before reaching up to kiss Alexei one more time.

He walks Kenny in to his flight, watching him board, before he finds the strength to turn around and make his way back to the parking lot.  
Jack is waiting in the front seat for him, Alyona laying down in the back, no doubt sulking over Kenny's absence.

"you okay, Zimmboni?" Alexei starts up the car, pulling out of the lot and onto the road back home.  
"I'm glad you have each other" Jack smiles softly, Alexei feels something in his chest loosen at his words, one of the biggest complications in Kenny and his relationship was how Jack would feel about it, Alexei loved Jack and he respected him, above all else, to have his blessing was nothing short of an honor.  
"Kenny and I... We have history, not all of it's good, but It doesn't mean I don't care about him. And I care about you, Tater" Jack pats his shoulder, "just.. Just promise me you'll treat him better than I did" there's regret and a touch of sadness in Jack's tone, but hope too.

Maybe Kent and Jack will never be the same as they were before, maybe there's pain and discomfort between them, but They're both willing to make an effort to work past it, and Alexei knows he'll help however he can.

"I promise, Zimmboni" he glances at Jack, catching the small smile on his face before focusing back on the road

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want everyone to be happy okay?


	5. Chapter 5

It's been almost 2 months since Kent's seen Alexei.

When he'd returned from Providence, blissful and fulfilled to the point that it was almost embarrassing (he could never really be embarrassed by anything involving Alyosha if he tried) Lisa had picked up on it from the moment he dropped by to pick up Kit that afternoon after practice, even the team had chirped him about being in a good mood.  
Kit was all over him the moment she was in his arms, probably because she could smell Alexei on him and was wondering where her giant Russian nap cushion was. 

"Someone had fun then, hmm?" Lisa smirked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, her brown eyes shining with mischief. Lisa was known for giving Kent shit, hell, she took pride in it, if he didn't already know that she was a very highly paid artist Kent would swear it was her job.  
"Don't I always?" He'd shrugged, playing it cool, praying to any God or deity listening that the hopelessly smitten look about him had dulled significantly throughout practice and the drive over.  
Lisa though had always been one perceptive motherfucker when it came to him.  
"Mm mm there's something different this time"  
Claire had walked back into the lounge room at this moment, all caramel skin and powerful hips swaying as she crossed the room carrying a white ball of fur known as Kit, "Babe, come help me out here. Somethings different about Parsnips"  
Kent inwardly groaned at the nickname, only Claire and Lisa ever called him parsnips (something he both detested and was fucking grateful for)  
"You mean other than the post-sex glow he's rocking the hell out of right now?" Claire grinned, handing Kit to Her name sake and plopping herself down on the couch beside Her fiancé.  
"He definitely got some dick recently"  
Kent clutched Kit to his chest protectively, covering her tiny ears "not in front of the child!" He mock gasped, Kit snuggling herself against his shirt, it seems his girl missed him.  
"First of all: your seventy year old spinster is showing. Second of all: I doubt she hasn't heard all kinds of nasty shit already from you and Tater tots, You look like a screamer. doesn't he, babe?" Lisa Nudged Claire, Delighted at Kent's scowl.  
"Definitely"  
"I bet you know how to pick screamers huh?" Kent pointedly looked at Lisa, who rolled her eyes while Claire snorted a laugh.  
"Seriously though, somethings different about you"  
"Oh god.. He's pregnant!" Lisa mock gasped, Kent rolled his eyes "because that's even remotely possible"  
Claire piped up this time, "I don't know, I've found some preeetty crazy fan works about you and your Ol' teenage dream"  
Lisa and Claire were also the only people aside from Alexei who knew about his history with Jack.  
Something must've shown on his face at the mention of his past, because Claire was across the room in seconds, sitting down beside him with a concerned expression marring her pretty face.  
"Did something happen.. With.. With Jack?"  
She said his name like it was a curse, as if just saying it would somehow hurt Kent, a long time ago it might've, a long time ago he didn't even dare say Jack's name for fear of what it could dredge up inside of him.  
Kent absolutely hated making them worry, especially because in his earlier days in Vegas with all the drinking and hookups he'd put Claire and Lisa both through so much of it.  
"No, no. I mean, yeah, but it's good.. We- he's good and I'm good"  
Lisa, who's perched on the arm of the couch, is sharing a sceptical look with Claire,  
"Alexei and I told him. It's difficult to understand, I know, but everything's good, really. Everything's good"  
He didn't even get a chance to gauge their reactions because before he knew it he was being crushed by the both of them, Kit mewing indignantly and pouncing off his lap to escape to the vacant sofa across from them.  
"You're really good?" Lisa whispered, her face tucked against his collarbone while Claire's was over his shoulder. She sounded so small and scared , like his mother used to sound when Kent would call her in the middle of the night under the guise that he just wanted to hear her voice.  
"I promise"  
"We love you, stupid" Claire proclaimed fiercely, and Kent knows it's true. He loves them too. 

The Aces are playing tonight against San Jose for a spot in the playoffs and as if that isn't daunting enough in itself, Tater will be in the crowd watching him play for the first time in person.  
The Falcs already secured their spot 2 nights ago, and Alexei had flown out around midday, so Kent sadly wouldn't be seeing him until after the game.  
He'd called though before his flight so he could wish Kenny good luck, promising a reward if he did, in fact, win. 

After the game he planned on making some bullshit excuse and getting his ass the fuck out of there before he gets roped into drinks with the guys, which win or lose he definitely will.  
It's not even that he doesn't want to drink with them (although, he's stopped doing that so much) or hang out with his boys, it's just that the last 2 months have been torture for himself and Alexei, Kent thought he'd be okay with handling it, He was alone before Alexei, 2 months without seeing him should be perfectly easy to survive by his estimate, but he underestimated just how fucking needy he has a tendency to be, especially when it comes to Tater who's like every holiday wrapped up in a beautiful face with big warm arms.  
There's really only so much Skype, phone calls and texting could do for him, most nights he just wants Tater beside him, wants to feel his boyfriend's lips against his forehead while they sleep, his strong arms holding him around the waist, wants to hear the way Tater whispers broken strings of Russian endearments in his ear as they drift off together: his anchor.

It's almost enough to send him into a panic, the amount of emotion he holds for Alexei, how much he misses him when he's not around, it's all very reminiscent of the way he felt about Jack.  
He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't worried about becoming too attached to Alexei, because he is, Kent is so goddamned petrified of attachment he buys new furniture almost every year. He can't deal with another Jack situation. He won't survive it, the first one took too much of him, wore out his soul, turned him into something cruel and twisted and bitter. The second time around would be the death of him.

Speaking of Jack.. His old best friend had even come through on his statement to call Kent. It was good, but again, he really didn't want to get used to having Jack in his life again just to have him abruptly up and leave again the next time he decided Kent wasn't good enough to be a part of his life. He understood that Jack did a lot of growing without him, but it still doesn't change the fact that Kent will not survive getting his heart broken by Jack Zimmermann a second time.

Other than those concerns, everything is going good for Kent parson right now.  
He can't help, though, being a little distrusting of it.  
His psychiatrist Dr. Hudson(because after Jack he needed one) said he was waiting for the other shoe to drop because he didn't believe he deserved real happiness, which to be honest: yeah.  
But it's also the fact that nothing in Kent's life has ever been this good before, nothing has ever come easy for Kent, so why now does he get what he always wanted. After the draft he could never be satisfied by all the fame and fortune, because he didn't have Jack. Not even captaining his own NHL team and hoisting the Stanley cup over his head was enough to fill the hole Jack left inside him. The success, all the people that either wanted him or wanted to be him, was meaningless without the love of his life to share it with. But now.. Now Kent has everything he could ever allow himself to hope for, but he doesn’t know if he'll ever feel like he deserves it.  
Alexei would lecture the fuck out of him if he ever heard him thinking so negatively about himself, but he can't help but wonder.  
Why was he gifted with such a loving, understanding and all around good person like Alexei? Why would the world feel the need to give him this? 

The game is a close one, which is to be expected because the sharks are a good fucking team, but they come out on top with a 4-3 win, and a hat trick for Kent, which he doesn't want to admit might have been inspired by the knowledge that Alexei is somewhere in the stands of people watching him play.

After the interviews that he's frankly not even slightly interested in (yeah they made the playoffs but who really gives a shit about that in comparison to his boyfriend who's probably waiting around outside for him right now) he's stripping out of his pads amidst the chirping and celebration of his team mates, those who haven't already left.  
"Good job out there cap" a voice directly beside him smiles, swoops nudges his shoulder with his own, beaming at Kent the way he usually does when he sees Kent do something great, the kind of look Kent knows would never be directed his way again if Swoops saw every awful, little fault he was made of.  
Ben Fuller, one of the Aces defence men and Kent's first friend on the team, glances over from his stall where he's talking with one of the rookies  
"Please, 'good job cap' all parser did was stand out there looking pretty" he chirps.  
"Well one of us had to, and it sure as shit couldn't of been you, Fuller" Kent smirks.  
Ben's a few years older than him, already married with a son: Kendrick, "named after his uncle parse" Ben had grinned, tears filling his eyes as he passed the bundle gently to Kent.  
He'd had to hold back the tears when he'd heard, and even when he'd looked down at one of his best friend's kid in his arms, named after him, he might of felt a few tears prickling in his eyes. 

Ben chuckles, shaking his head fondly before turning back to the task at hand.  
"So we going out tonight?" Patrick, their rookie goalie, who's kind of like the teams youngest brother, pipes up as Kent shucks off his briefs, already making a beeline for the closest shower stall.  
"What do you say cap? Up for a little night out?"  
Kent turns the shower on as hot as he can stand and steps under the spray "we're in San Jose, guys, considering we just kicked their teams ass I don't think we'll be welcome in a lot of clubs"  
"C'mon parse, when are you ever concerned about locals?"  
"I'm just saying. I'm not really in the mood to deal with smart asses. Plus, y'know, I've been pretty stressed about this season. I just want to relax tonight, maybe get a good fucking nights sleep for once" he sighs, hoping the guys will leave it at that.  
Of course he's stupid to even hope they will of course.  
"What's up?" A fourth voice, walshy this time.  
"Cap's trying to get out of celebrating" Ben supplies unhelpfully.  
"Not trying to, I'm not going" he says firmly, scrubbing shampoo out of his hair.  
"Since when does Parse not want to go out?" Walshy asks, his voice a little softer, no doubt in an attempt to exclude him from the conversation.  
He rolls his eyes and continues cleaning the sweat from his body, they'll get over it.  
"Needs his beauty sleep" Ben says, loud enough for him to hear, on purpose.  
"Fuck you, Fuller" he calls  
"You would be so lucky, Parser" Ben Fires back, making him snort a laugh.  
"You think Cap' might have a girl?" Patrick joins.  
"Nah" Ben.  
"Yeah, he's not really the 'serious relationship' type" Swoops.  
"Although.." Ben sounds like he's considering it "it would explain his behaviour lately"  
"Right? he has been weird" Walshy.  
Kent turns the shower off, slinging his towel around his hips, "I can hear you motherfuckers" He stalks back to his stall, dripping water as he goes.  
"Your mum is pretty hot though" swoops smirks, laughing when Kent flips him the bird.  
"Is that it, Parser? You hiding some puck bunny away from us?" Walshy questions.  
Kent turns from his stall to find that every one in the room is focused on him, all his team mates and friends staring at him sceptically.  
His stomach flips the wrong way.  
"You've been awol a lot lately" swoops hums thoughtfully.  
"No. You guys are just looking too much into my shit" he tries to sound amused, but he can't really hide the panic he's feeling right now, he turns back to his stall and dries himself as fast as possible.  
"You'd tell us though right, if you did have a girl?" Ben asks, he sounds a little offended, which Kent fucking hates, because it's not like he can just announce to his fucking team that he's dating another professional athlete on a different team.  
Oh, and not to mention the fact that he's a man, and not a girl.  
"Yeah, but it's whatever, man. I'm not dating anyone" he replies, tugging a pair of briefs on and stepping into his jeans, "I'll see you guys later back at the hotel, alright? Drink responsibly, and for christ's sake watch Pat" he adds, not even bothering with a shirt in favour of just throwing on his hoodie and shoes.  
He hates lying to his team, really he does. But he has no other option, his career would be over if the team or anyone else knew that their captain, the face of the Aces, was a cock sucker.  
They drop it at that, to his relief, going about their own business as Kent slings his bag over his shoulder, hair still dripping wet.  
Swoops is looking at him with concern "you alright cap?" The way swoops asks him that sometimes, and the way he says 'you can talk to me' or 'I'm here' makes Kent almost want to tell him everything. Almost.  
"Always" he says instead, clapping him on the shoulder as he leaves. 

As soon as he's outside the locker room, the first thing he sees is Alexei leaning against the wall opposite the door, holding a bouquet of flowers and grinning that big goofy smile of his, right at him.  
He's dressed in a dark blue suit, a white shirt tucked into the pants that hold his thighs just the right way, and Kent just knows how good Alexei must look from the back.  
He looks like he's stepped right out of a ridiculous romantic comedy (the kind he knows Tater loves) his hair combed back and everything. It makes him smile.  
How does he deserve him? He wonders. How does he get this? Not only is Alexei the very definition of sex on big gangly legs but he's all Kent could've wanted Jack to be for him. The only difference being that Alexei Wants him more than Jack ever could. "Hello, прекрасный" Alexei grins, waving one large hand at him before pushing himself off the wall and wrapping Kent into a hug.  
As soon as Tater's arms are around him it's like all the stress and tension he's worked up over the past 2 months just rushes out of him as smoothly as an exhale, he doesn't even think before he's letting himself relax into it, his own arms snaking around Alexei's middle.  
He buries his face in the crook of Alexei's neck and just breathes, the smell of His boyfriends cologne like coming home, he plants a brief kiss under Alexei's collar before he comes to his senses and pulls away.  
"You so great tonight. Always best, but tonight you make me very proud" Alexei smiles, tracing Kent's cheekbone absently with his thumb before he steps back, creating a nice, very platonic, space between them, Kent can see how much Alexei hates it, the way his eyebrows crease ever so slightly and his hands clench and unclench while they fight not to reach out and touch him.  
"I couldn't help showing off for you" he smirks, delighted at the pink flush growing on Alexei's face, he looks around the hallway before stepping forward to take Alexei's hand "c'mon, let's get out of here"  
Alexei laces their fingers together and smiles down at him like he hung the moon; it's ridiculous really, he knows everything about Kent, every flaw, every mistake, the darkest parts of him that Alexei's only managed to coax out of him, and still he looks at Kent like there's nothing in the world he would rather be looking at.  
"I have to ask, how'd you even get back here?" Kent nudges him with his shoulder and glances behind them once last time for good measure.  
"I'm use most secret Russian spy moves" Alexei winks, Leaning into him and whispering conspiratorially "I'm best at sneaking"  
Kent laughs, "right, because no one would notice the 6'4 giant Sneaking around with a bouquet of fucking flowers" he snorts.  
"You not like flowers?" Alexei frowns, looking down at the roses in his hand like they're personally offending him.  
"No, I love them, but you don't have to bring me flowers every time y'know?" He squeezes Alexei's hand.  
"You silly Kenny. I'm being romantic, have to keep small blonde boyfriend happy"  
Kent can't resist the smile tugging at the corners of his lips, "I'm only slightly smaller than you" he huffs, rolling his eyes when Alexei gives him that "of course Kenny, whatever you say, Kenny" look.  
"I can pick you up, hold you in my arms like you teddy bear" Alexei argues, "you fit right here in my arms, like you made just for me"  
Kent smiles, "you're a sap"  
Alexei chuckles "you just embarrassed 'cause you like it"  
"That too" he allows  
"You not have to be embarrassed Kenny, is best that you like me, and best that I like you"  
Kent looks up at this extraordinary man he's somehow tricked into caring about him, Alexei Mashkov, his Alyosha: too good to be true.  
"When did you get so smooth huh?"  
"Already told you, am best, after you, Kotyonok" 

Alexei insists on covering his eyes with his insanely large hands before he keys them into their hotel room, they'd gotten a few sceptical looks from the staff in the lobby: a well dressed Russian man holding his considerably shorter, blonde, American boyfriend dressed in ripped jeans and an aces hoodie, collecting the keys to one of the nicest rooms in the place. The receptionist looked at Alexei as if he was Kent's sugar daddy, Kent wasn't too bothered by the implication.

Now, Alexei has his much larger body pressed snugly to Kent's back, so comforting and familiar that he sinks back against his boyfriend's weight without a second thought.  
"Keep eyes closed, I just unlock" Alexei hums, his right hand lifting from his face, Kent is tempted to just take a quick peek as he hears the door opening in front of him, But before he even gets the chance Alexei has his hand back over his eye.  
"Okay Kenny, I lead" Alexei pushes him forward gently, guiding him into the room.  
He's 5 steps in when Alexei halts him, his hands falling away from Kent's face and coming to rest on his hips, "open"  
The room is everything Alexei would look for in a romantic suite, and somehow even though Kent can see Alexei's decision clearly mapped out in everything, he is still surprised by it.  
The room is fairly spacious, hardwood floors and red blinds half drawn to look out over the city below them. A huge bed made up with simple white sheets and more cushions than Kent or Alexei could ever have use for occupies a vast majority of the room, the base, below the mattress, glowing a soft yellow light that matches the one outlining the ceiling above, mirrors directly above the bed and built into the headboard, something Alexei and he will no doubt have fun with.  
A brown, leather love seat is to their left, facing the windows, with a small table holding a bucket of champagne and two glasses, boxes of chocolates and a gift box Alexei must have sat there earlier.  
And in the left corner beside the bed is a large corner bathtub, filled with steaming water and flower petals.

He can't believe what he's seeing. No one has ever done something like this for him before. No one.  
"You're unbelievable" Kent laughs a little breathlessly, dropping his bag carelessly to the floor and tugging Alexei by his hips till he's flush against him.  
"You like?" Alexei hums, wrapping his arms around Him and folding himself over the difference between them to nibble at Kent's lips.  
"You're not real" Kent slides his hands up his boyfriend's sides and smooths them over his broad chest "you can't be real"  
Alexei huffs a laugh against Kent's temple, pressing his plush lips softly to his forehead "I'm being most real, Kenny" then, Without warning he sweeps Kent off his feet, tossing him over his shoulder as if he weighs nothing at all, his hands snug on the backs of his thighs as he walks them further into the room, "I love it when you do that" Kent groans from over Alexei's shoulder, he's watching the way Alexei's ass bounces with every step he takes in those pants, he's a fucking gift to mankind, he thinks.  
"I know" Alexei hums, smug and sexy as all hell, he throws Kenny down on the mattress playfully, grinning down at him as he shrugs out of his jacket before following him down onto the bed.  
"I'm miss you so much" he says, gazing Down at Kenny with those big brown doe eyes, warm and familiar, impossibly deep.  
Kent curls his hand around Tater's neck, his fingers sliding into the hair at the back of his neck, "I missed you too" he allows, he's not going to start baring his entire soul to Alexei just because they're officially dating, he's a little too anxious to do that, but he can show Alexei parts of himself he'd otherwise keep hidden with anyone else, like the part of him that really really enjoys dating Alexei.  
"I'm miss you even when you here" Alexei hums depositing himself between Kent's legs and curling around him in a hug.  
"I'm miss you when you just a step away from me" he presses a kiss to Kent's cheek, his lips just resting there for a moment before he moves to look at Kent, their faces so close the tips of their noses are touching, when Alexei licks his lips (a nervous habit) Kent can feel it briefly against his own.  
"I'm miss you when you right in front of me" his voice has dropped to a whisper now and Kent has to close the distance between them because if Alexei keeps looking at him with that naked, intense affection he might start crying.

Alexei indulges him for a few moments before he forces himself to pull back, and Kent can see that he doesn't want to, can tell he wants nothing more than to let their kisses consume him by the way he presses his lips to his again and again before finally pulling back.  
"You want bath?" He asks, running his tongue over his lips to gather the moisture they left behind, Kent sits up on his elbows and cups the side of Alexei's face, running his thumb across his boyfriend's plush lips, "I showered after the game" he says, looking up at his still damp hair as if to say 'obviously'  
Alexei runs a hand through it, "but you not have bath" he insists "not with me"  
That's enough to convince Kent he could use another cleaning.  
"Ah" he grins, already sitting up completely to rid himself of his clothes, Alexei follows his lead and starts unlinking his cuffs while he pulls his hoodie off. Kent loves watching Alyosha undress, loves watching those long fingers of his set to work, he's so methodical about it, not unhurried, just efficient. It's the same way he loves watching Alexei on the ice.  
"Kenny, you okay?"  
He realises he was in a bit of a daze there for a while, because now Alexei is shirtless, his shirt folded on the end of the bed and his fingers pausing where they've come to land on his belt buckle.  
"Yeah. I was just.. you're so beautiful" he doesn't know why he's blushing, he's complimented Alexei plenty of times throughout their relationship, and Alexei knows that he's pretty, he has to know, but sometimes admitting how crazy for his boyfriend he really is takes him back to being 16: flushed because He'd caught Jack staring at him, again.

Alexei snorts an amused, but bashful laugh, sliding his hands up Kent's legs from his ankle to his calf before he pulls him down to the end of the mattress, slotting himself between Kent's legs that now sit on either side of his thighs. He bows over Kenny like an overhanging branch, cupping his face tenderly. "Silly Kenny, you most beautiful"  
He kisses his nose then, right over the small cluster of freckles Kent's always felt a little self conscious about.  
"Come" he says, slipping away again to toe off his shoes and start unclipping his belt, his eyes on Kenny as he slips the fabric of his pants down over his thighs and legs, letting them drop in a pile at his feet, smiling softly when he notices Kent's gaze travelling down them.  
"Legs for days" he mumbles, it astounds him how Alexei still has this powerful of an effect on him, how Kent can never tear his gaze away for more than a few seconds when they're together, the way Alexei makes him feel so safe and calm, but also so anxious in a good way, the kind of way a small child might feel riding a bike their first time, like they know there's a chance of falling but it's thrilling all the same.

He watches Alexei shuck off his boxers and step into the tub, lowering himself down into the water with an inviting smile aimed at him, who's still sitting on the edge of the bed, stupefied.  
"You coming, Kotyonok?"  
Kent nods a little jerkily, pushing his jeans and briefs off in one awkward motion and following Alexei to the tub, allowing himself to take his time when he sees the way Alexei's breath stutters in his chest for just a moment while he watches him.

He offers an outstretched hand to help him into the tub, pulling Kent down into the corner of it so he's sitting on his lap.  
The water is just the right temperature and it smells all fruity and nice, it makes him smile thinking of Alexei doing all of this for him.  
"You really went all out huh?" He lets his arms drape loosely over Alexei's shoulders,  
"I'm be very romantic" Alexei says seriously, dropping a kiss onto his brow.

Kent knows how true that is. It's one of the things he loves the most about his Alyosha, how he never ceases to find new ways to blow his mind. All the grand romantic gestures and the amount of kindness Alexei showers him with feels wasted on someone like him. But Alexei makes it apparent that he would Rather no one else.  
Every occasion is an opportunity for romance to Alexei, who once ordered an entire truck load of floral arrangements to be sent to Kent's apartment, complete with a much too large stuffed kitten and the words "for my kotyonok" scrawled in Tater's messy handwriting on a small card.  
That one had really gotten to Kent, who sat on the floor of his living room surrounded by more flowers than he could poke a stick at, sitting beside a ridiculous stuffed animal, crying his eyes out.  
He will never admit it, but it's one of the things he loves most about Alexei.

"You are way too good to be wasted on someone like me, y'know?" He really wishes he'd be better at not saying these kinds of things to Alexei, thinking them constantly is okay because he's the only one that can hear the negative bullshit, but every time Tater's brow creases after he criticises himself makes Kent hate himself a little more, which is exactly the problem.  
"Why you always say these things? You not bad person, Kenny" Alexei tugs him closer, his big puppy dog eyes shining with sadness, which really isn't helping the situation.  
"I just mean that I'm in awe of you, y'know? Like I can't believe someone-" he cups Alexei's face and stares into those eyes he loves so much. "-someone so kind and handsome and Good, chooses to be with me. You're so strange that way, the way you want me" he leans in and kisses the bridge of Alexei's nose, where the bump is from the bone breaking and healing again, Kent thinks that maybe he's a little like Alexei's nose: broken and healed over again crooked, not the same.  
"I'm want you. I'm want you more than anything" Alexei looks so sincere when he says it, so powerful, like he's willing Kent to just believe him.  
"I really missed you" Kent feels like he might burst into tears at any moment, when Alexei treats him like this he can't breathe, can't think.

Tater slides a palm from the small of Kent's back to the side of his face, his gaze intent on him before he leans in and presses his lips to his.  
Alexei kisses like he feels, which is, to put it simply, intense. He kisses like this minute is the last one he'll ever spend on earth, tender and filled with emotion, when he licks into Kent's mouth it's like fire, when his hands are tracing the ridges of Kent's spine it make him turn to liquid, he wants to be remade by Alyosha, for Alyosha. Sometimes they curl up together and kiss for hours without any intentions, just breathing each other's air and sharing each other's tongues, it's one of Kent's favourite pastimes. Just letting tater pull him into his lap or gently lay him out on the nearest surface so he can take all that Kent has to give. It's beautiful.

Alexei takes him like this in the tub, his hands tracing lines up and down Kent's bared skin as they move together, the water threatening to splash over the edge and spill down the tiled steps the more they grind. Their foreheads are pressed together as they trade lethargic kisses between them, sometimes just openly panting against the others mouth when Alexei hits that spot inside him. And all the while Alexei is speaking to him, because Alexei talks a lot during sex, and Kent loves to listen (it's a stark contrast to the kind of sex he and Jack had once had, when neither of them would say much but whimper incoherently. That was their problem, Kent thinks, they never talked half as much as they should)  
Alexei's pushing his hips up into him while Kent grinds his own down fluidly against him, his hands flat against the tiles behind Alexei's head, the coldness of them a pleasant shock in comparison to the heat of their bodies and the water.  
"мой ангел" Alexei whispers.

Part of Kent thinks he switches to Russian because he doesn't really want Kent to understand what he's saying, he wants him to hear it, and he wants to say it, but he thinks sometimes Alexei is nervous, as if Kent could ever not want him.  
He's not exactly fluent, but he can say some basic sentences in Russian, greetings and niceties, and of course he knows a good few endearments, and some things he'd never say out loud but to Alexei, he knows what Alexei has called him, and he knows by the way he says it that he truly thinks of Kent this way. 

Earlier in their relationship, almost 2 months in, he and Alexei were curled into each other in his Alyosha's bed. Alyona curled up on their legs as they tangled together, sleeping soundly, she always seemed the happiest when they were all together, or maybe Kent was just looking too much into the huskies behaviour.  
"мое солнце, сделанные из звезд" Alexei pressed a kiss to the hollow of Kent's throat, his hand carding through Kent's hair .  
Kent's brow creased as he relayed the sentence back to Alexei, struggling with the pronunciation the first few times before Alexei chuckled "good enough" with another lingering kiss to his neck.  
"Something.. Something about the sun and stars, right?" He puzzled, Alexei smiled brilliantly, "you are learning so well"  
Kent blushed, squeezing Alexei's shoulder and trying out the sentence one more time on his tongue.  
Alexei watched him smugly, secretly very proud.  
"мой ангел" he brushed Kent's cowlick back from his forehead as he watched him work the phrase over in his head.  
"Your-" Kent frowned, "I don't know the second word"  
Alexei nudged his nose against his "Angel" he said softly, his cheeks growing pink.  
"Your angel?" Kent questioned, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming this moment.  
"My angel" Alexei repeated, drawing him back in for another kiss. 

Kent whimpers, burying his face in Alexei's shoulder so he doesn't see the expression he's wearing right now. He always knows exactly what to say to drive Kent crazy, Knows exactly how to hit him in the heart.  
"So beautiful" Alexei hums, His hands sliding up from the dip of his spine to sink into his hair, he gently guides Kent's face back so they're looking at each other again, and Kent moans at how devastating Alexei looks, loose limbed and wide eyed, his tongue running along his kiss swollen lips, so Beautiful.  
"я люблю тебя"  
Kent's whole world slows down, his hips halting and he can feel his heart beating in his fingertips, and god, he's imagining this, he's heard Alexei say this to his parents while he's on the phone, and he knows what it means. God, he knows. But it can't be right.  
Then Alexei is speaking again, "I'm love you, Kenny"  
He freezes up, his eyes filling to the brim with tears that he hangs his head to hide, he can feel Alexei inside him, Alexei loves him. Alexei loves him.  
"Kenny? Baby?" Alexei has stopped moving, panic settled into his features, and Kent can feel how fast his heart is beating in his chest. when Alexei tucks him under the chin he looks up without hesitation, and he watches Alexei's face crumple when he sees the tears.  
"нет. No, why you- don't cry. Don't cry ангел" he pulls Kent against him tighter, like he's shielding him from the world, and his voice is soft and husky when he whispers "I'm sorry. Never want to hurt you. Never"  
Kent pulls back against him, eyes wide and cups Alexei's face in his hands, and his heart breaks just a little at the tears he sees forming in those big brown eyes. "You never could. I believe that" he manages to croak, wiping the tears hastily from his cheeks in shame, before he kisses Alexei again.

The last time Kent said it, he was a 17 year old boy.  
The last time he said those words he was in love with Jack Zimmermann. He knows now, that the kind of love he felt for Jack will always be there, but it's not the same as it once was.  
At 17 he never experienced more than Jack's lips against his, his hands on his skin and their bodies together. For fleeting moments it was all Kent had, all that he held onto for 6 years.  
He never realised the day he met Alexei was the day he started to let go.

"я люблю тебя" he says it, and he means it. And he hopes by the way Alexei is looking at him that he hasn't completely butchered the pronunciation like a jackass.  
"I love you" he repeats in English, just to be sure.  
Tears are spilling down his cheeks and his breathing has gone ragged, and he knows he must be a sight, because god, who cries when someone tells them they love them?  
But Alexei is smiling. He lets out a relieved chuckle, his face wonderful and his smile reaches those eyes that Kent loves. He loves.  
"Why you crying, kotyonok?" Alexei thumbs at his cheeks, catching the tears that are gathered there, and brushing his hair back.  
"You make me happy" Kent flushes, burying his face in Alexei's chest when he beams at him like a total dork. 

They finish up in the tub, Alexei washing the two of them dutifully while Kent is completely boneless in his arms. He wraps Kent up in the provided bath robes and lays him out on the bed. Kent sprawls easily, a small satisfied smirk at the corner of his lips as Alexei hovers over him.  
A warm palm pressed to the cut of his hips, slowly traveling up his abs and chest, he follows the movement until it reach his cheek, then he looks back up at his boyfriend.  
Alexei crawls onto the bed with him, holding his face as if it's rare and delicate, he smiles down at him, that big adorable smile that reaches his eyes and sends sparks through Kent's veins.  
He can't remember feeling like this, not for a long time.

"You okay, Kenny?" Tater is looking down at him, a little concerned and waiting patiently for Kent to speak to him.  
He chooses instead, to pull Alexei down tighter against him, hooking his legs over his back.  
"I'm the luckiest motherfucker alive"  
Alexei grins, "no. I'm most lucky"  
Kent gazes up at him, his Alyosha, the man he loves. It makes him giddy.  
"Say it again?"  
Alexei's face softens, "I'm love you"  
His chest warms like the sun is shining directly onto his skin, his stomach twisting "again"  
Alexei presses a kiss to his temple, whispering against the skin there.  
"Again"  
He kisses the cut of his cheekbone, "I'm love you"  
"One more time"  
Alexei seals their lips together, his breath making them tingle when he pulls back to whisper "I'm love you, Kenny"  
Kent holds him against him, peppering kisses all over Alyosha's shoulder and neck, who chuckles and tilts his head to give Kent better access.  
"We go for hat trick now too?"  
Kent laughs, knowing full well Tater is joking, but accepting the challenge nonetheless.  
"Think you can keep up?" he smirks, his kisses evolving into nips and open mouthed sucking along his boyfriend's collarbone.  
Alexei makes a small approving noise, opening his mouth to say something equally witty back, before he's interrupted by Kent's phone ringing from somewhere on the floor.

"Shit" Kent lets his head fall back against the pillows, knowing full well he needs to answer his phone, in case his team needs him, or god forbid his mother is calling.  
"Should get that, wait right here" he slips out from under Alexei, fishing around in the pockets of his discarded jeans before he finally pulls it out.

Ben's face is lighting up the screen.  
Kent's stomach churns.  
"Shit"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been wanting to update this for a long time, but I'm a lazy motherfucker.  
> Comments and criticisms are encouraged.  
> The amount of positive feedback I've gotten already is so amazing, thank you all <3
> 
> Next up: The aces want to know wtf is up with their captain.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the delay on this chapter, I originally wrote two alternate versions of it before I decided which one fit the story better.
> 
> Again, thank you so much to everyone who's left positive comments on my work, It really got me through writing this next chapter. 
> 
> I have a lot more to come, so stay prepared, this story is only just beginning.

Alexei gazes down the length of the hotel bed to watch Kenny while he fumbles around the floor for his phone, His white bathrobe open, wet blonde curls clinging to his pretty face, a soft pink flush spreading from cheeks to navel.  
Needless to say Alexei doesn't think he's ever seen anything more beautiful.

He can't contain the smile that spreads across his face, and even if he could he's not really sure he'd bother to, so he just directs it at the ceiling and lets the warm feelings flow through him.  
He'd confessed his love for Kent not even 2 hours ago in this very room and it went better than he could've ever hoped.  
He knows not everyone would be so worked up over 3 stupid words, but to him it really is a big deal, He'd spent the past month worrying about voicing his feelings to his boyfriend, their relationship was only 6 months old and Alexei had the tendency to fall hard for people, it was always a thing he did, ever since he was a child he just loved love, he was constantly being chirped for being a bit of a bleeding heart.  
But this one had snuck up on him: his first real relationship since moving to the states, his first serious boyfriend, and the first person he's ever been in love with (at least to his knowledge)

Of course, like any partnership, platonic or no, there are many components to their relationship that could be seen as obstacles and will be difficult to overcome the longer they're together.  
The first and foremost being that they're both closeted NHL players in the spotlight, and their relationship could seriously hurt their separate careers, not to mention if they ever did come out they would be the first gay couple in men's sports (because the fact they're both Bisexual would be completely overlooked) which a great many people would not be happy about.  
Alexei tries to steer clear of those thoughts as much as he can, he was overthinking things, the only important thing right now is that he's happy and Kenny's happy.

Another complication was that he couldn't share his happiness with the people he loves, his team, his mama and papa and little Anya who calls every weekend to hear all about Alexei's life in America.  
His heart swells with so much pride for Kenny, he wants everyone to know that he's the one who stole the heart of such an extraordinary man, he wants to tell snowy about all the adventures he and Kent have, he wants to sit down to one of Marty and Gabby's team dinners with Kent beside him, so all his friends know that this is the man he loves, and he's so happy.  
One day perhaps he'll have all of that and more, but he knows it's important to focus on what he does have rather than what he's missing right now.

Zimmboni couldn't be happier for him, which means he gets the bulk of Alexei's non-stop gushing over Kent (because he may be better at keeping a secret than he previously thought he would be, but not even god himself could stop Alexei from being proud of Kent, and if Jack didn't know Alexei would still be gushing to Alyona about him) 

There's also the fact that Alexei is still so scared of what his parents might think of him, he doesn't want his family to think he's perverted: that there's something wrong with him for being in love with Kenny, because Kent is the best thing he has in his life right now, and even with all his friends and his money and the success he would still feel empty without him now that he knows what it's like to have him.

Last week he was talking with his Mama over Skype, she was telling Alexei all about how proud people are of him, how so many children look up to him back home and how proud she is to be his Mama , she even asked him when he'd be coming home next and he supposed he really should've been prepared for when she got this little glint in her eyes and leaned closer to the laptop screen (this was a classic scheming tell for Yeva)

"You getting so handsome Alyosha, just like your father" she had crooned, and he caught the way her hands instinctively reached out to touch him, before she remembered that he wasn't standing in their living room with her and she couldn't cup his face and plant a kiss on his nose, it used to make him so embarrassed in front of his friends, she never grew out of seeing Alexei as her Little baby, growing up he was often called a mama's boy for this very reason. 

Personally Alexei saw more of himself in his mother than his father, it's what most people say about him anyway, but to his Mama he would always be little Alexei, named for his father.  
"Isn't our boy beautiful, Sashura?" She had called his father over too, making him say a quick hello before he rushed off again to take Anya to a friend's house.

His whole life he had never seen anyone as in love as his mother and father, Everyone was always saying how cute they were and how devoted to each other, It was a little gross sometimes how they acted like lovesick teenagers, but now that he's with Kenny he thinks he understands a little more what that's like.  
"Oh you will never guess who I run into the other day"  
Here it goes, he thinks.  
"Zoya! Oh Alyosha she is still so beautiful, I will never understand how you let her go" 

Alexei can't believe his mother is still hung up on Zoya, she was his girlfriend for a little over a year before he'd signed with the Falcs, and she was lovely, truly. But long distance wasn't something the two of them could deal with, and she had her own life to figure out too, so they had ended it, on good terms.  
She was always his mothers favourite of the girlfriends he's had over the years, but his mother can't make all his decisions for him in life.

"Mama-" he sighed, trying to get a word in before she went off on one of her rants, he'd received the 'when are you going to settle down' speech too many times in his life for a man in his early twenties.  
"She is always asking for you, and hockey not last forever. I want grand-babies" she pouts, "I won't get any from Anya, every boy she meet she scares away, says she has 'better things to do with time than be gross with boys' hah! she is so much like you"  
Alexei smiles at that, Anya could be pretty terrifying, she learned from the best.  
"You should call Zoya, It's time you find yourself a good woman" she adds firmly, perfectly shaped brows creased as she gives him the Yeva Mashkova no nonsense stare (this exact stare was enough to have Alexei do whatever she told him to as a child).  
"We're not meant to be, Mama. There cannot be relationship for Zoya and me" Alexei feels so guilty saying it, like he's disappointing her, which is something he's always subconsciously had a fear of, he loves his mother with all his heart, she supported him through everything in life, and despite having her own career and fame she was always exactly where Alexei needed her, he knows he could ask her right now to fly to providence and she would without a second thought.  
He knows she means well, that like him, his Mama has a big heart, and she's fierce when it comes to her children, it's not her fault for assuming Alexei would want a girlfriend, when he kept his attraction to both men and women a secret his whole life.  
"Why not?" She asks, large blue eyes filled with disappointment, it makes Alexei feel so guilty.  
"I- am seeing someone here" he admits uncertainly, feeling so tense, he wishes Kenny were beside him right now, holding his hand and stroking his fingers with the padding of his thumb, the way he always does when he's comforting him. 

Relief floods through his body when Yeva positively lights up at this, he can practically see her bouncing in her seat as she beams at him.  
"Alyosha! Why didn't you tell me? How long have you kept this secret from me?"  
"Uh- not long.. We still-" he makes a noncommittal noise, waving his hand "new, 6 months?"  
Her eyes widen comically, like she's on the set of one of her movies right now, "you hide this from me for six months!? Oh, sweetheart, I'm so happy. Are you happy?" 

Alexei really thinks about the question, his whole body is singing "yes!" But he really wants to take a step back and make sure he gives his mother as much of the facts as he can here since he can't be completely honest about some things.

"The happiest I have ever been" he answers, picturing Kenny's smiling face beside him, the flush of colour under his candy apple skin when Alexei compliments him, the carefree way he laughs at Alexei's jokes, even when they're complete nonsense.  
"My baby, you are serious about this girl?"

Alexei's heart drops into his stomach for a split second.  
"I think so. Yes"  
It's not her fault, he thinks. It's not her fault.  
"What is she like?"  
He blows out a breath he had been holding in and runs his hands through his hair, 'I can do this'  
"She is everything I ever want. beautiful and kind, and so-" he's hit with so much emotion in that small few seconds he's rendered speechless.  
"You would like her, I think. She is strong like you, and so gentle at same time. She takes care of me and I take care of her. She makes me feel like I'm home, even when she far away"  
His mama looks like she's about to cry, and he has to chuckle at how dramatic she still is, 'actors' his father used to sigh whenever she would do something extra, he misses them both so much.

"She sounds wonderful, Alyosha" Yeva smiles, clutching her chest, "I'm so proud of you" she presses a hand to her laptop screen, smiling at Alexei through the camera.  
Alexei forces a smile, he's not particularly used to lying to his mother and father, and he feels a little strange about it, but he can share his happiness with them this way, even if they don't have all the facts.  
Even if it feels a little wrong to lie about being in a relationship with a woman to hide his one with Kenny.  
All he really wants is to be with him.

After the conversation with his mother Alexei had started to ponder his feelings for Kent a little more, is 6 months too early to tell someone you love them? That's half a year, but when he compares their relationship to that of the many he's seen, he feels like it isn't much, and love is a very important thing to Kent, he's almost terrified to let anyone love him, Alexei has fought for him and will Continue to if need be, but what if saying he loves he Kent spooks him, Kenny will no doubt distance himself right away if he doesn't break up with Alexei on the spot.

He doesn't know what he'd do without him.  
And yeah, he never previously had a full conversation with Kenny before they met in that bar 6 months ago, but Alexei has always admired him as a player, and he'll admit that he's always thought he was beautiful, especially in the photo shoots he would do for magazines, Alexei kept a copy of the ESPN body shoot for months when it featured a very naked Kent Parson with nothing but skates hanging around his neck.  
When he'd admitted this to Kent on one of their earlier dates, Kent had laughed so hard he'd gotten teary-eyed and told Alexei not to be embarrassed because he had been checking him out since his rookie year.  
They hadn't even made it back to Alexei's that night and had instead made out in the backseat of Alexei's car, a little tipsy and a lot happy.  
The highlight of the evening was Later at home, when Kent had let Alexei take some pictures of his own.

Regardless, He had decided to get some advice on the subject from his favourite couple: Jack and bitty.  
Alexei was over for Dinner one night when Bitty was visiting, and he was helping with dinner, or rather Eric was helping him help with dinner, Jack was in the living room just in front of them watching the history channel, and Alexei thought it was the perfect opportunity to get someone else's opinion on his current predicament.

"You're doing just fine, sweetheart" Bitty encouraged, helping him make the fresh pasta.  
Being around Bitty was one of Alexei's favourite pass times, because he always learned something new from the small blonde boy, whether it was a new Beyoncé song, a recipe or just one of the many things Bitty shared with him, Alexei always had a good time.

"Bitty, I'm ask you something?"  
Bits looked a little surprised but not unhappy, "of course you can" he'd nodded, pausing in his chopping of vegetables to give Alexei his full attention.  
"How you know when you love Zimmboni?"  
Bitty's perfectly shaped eyebrows went up into his hair, and his mouth formed a stunned little o, "well, that is a good question. I suppose, it was around the time of Jack's graduation. whenever I thought about him leaving I just-" he glanced at Jack across the room, but Zimmboni was laser focused on the television.  
"I had feelings for Jack for a long time before we'd gotten together, you see, so by the time we did I already fell in love with him"  
Alexei nodded, that made sense, but if anything it just made his feelings seem more insignificant, Jack and Bitty were slowly falling In love for two years before they came together, he and Kenny had jumped into bed together their first night. 

"Honey, are you alright? What's this about?" Bitty had Reached over to grab his hand comfortingly, No doubt seeing the distress in Alexei's features.  
"I'm want to- -I'm not know Kenny as long as you know Zimmboni"  
Bitty's face softened, and his hand came up to pat Alexei's shoulder "its different for everyone, if you feel that you love him then you should trust your heart"  
Alexei pondered it, and while it was helpful advice There was still a nagging at the back of his mind.  
"But what if- what if Kenny doesn't want me to love him?"  
At this Jack had stopped the watching the TV and had come to stand beside bits, he looked the same way he did in the car on the ride back from the airport the last time Kent was here, when he asked Alexei to treat Kent better than he did. He realised this was Jack's guilty face.

"Tater, Kent may be difficult and emotionally closed-off, but he wouldn't run away from you. The Kent I know now has grown so much, and I think you're a big part of that. You're good for each other, I didn't think you could get any happier but seeing you with him was a whole new experience. Don't let Kent's fears scare you into hiding your feelings too"  
Bitty took Jack's hand, looking up at him proudly before turning back to Alexei.  
"He's right, Hun. Relationships are built on communication, you should talk to him about this. and if that boy didn't want your love, he wouldn't look as happy with you as he does" Bitty proclaimed fiercely, pulling his phone from his pocket, he swipes the screen a few times before handing it to Alexei.

Kent's face lights up the screen, his hand brushing through Alexei's hair as they sit on his couch, Alexei's face is tipped down to meet Kenny's eyes, and they're both smiling at each other. Jack must've taken it the last time Kenny visited, it's a beautiful photo, intimate and powerful.

He smiles down at the phone, not realising his eyes are tearing up until one drops on the screen, he quickly brings an arm up to swipe the tears from his eyes, feeling silly for getting so emotional.  
"sorry I'm wet phone, itty bitty" he hands it back to Eric, who hands it off to Jack before wrapping himself around Alexei like an octopus.  
"Bless your heart" he croons, and if Alexei didn't know any better he'd think Bitty was tearing up too.  
Jack grins at the two of them before joining in on their hug, "bit emotional eh, bits?"  
From Alexei's chest, where Eric has his face buried a muffled "Jack Laurent Zimmermann, don't you dare chirp me in such a beautiful moment" Is huffed out, making Jack and Alexei chuckle.

 

"Shit"  
Alexei looks back to Kent, who glances at him with a tense expression before swiping his screen and pressing his phone to his ear.  
"Hey, everything alright?" He turns his back on Alexei, sitting facing the door on the end of the bed.  
"Me?, Yeah, I'm just out for a walk, couldn't sleep So I figured I'd try tire myself out"  
Alexei shuffles down the length of the bed until he's pressed to Kent's back, looping an arm around his boyfriend's middle while he talks.  
Kent takes his hand, slipping his fingers in between Alexei's where they rest against his side.  
"Ben, really I'm okay. I'm a grown man I can take care of myself" 

Alexei knows Ben Fuller is Kent's best friend, and the star defence-man for the Aces; the way Kent has told it, Ben took him under his wing from the start, his 3 year old son is named after Kent for christ's sake, so of course he'd be concerned where Kent could get off to alone in the middle of the night, in a city that isn't their own.

He's glad that Kent has all these different people that love and care for him, lord knows he doesn't always see it, but they're always there, and sometimes, sure, Kent can be a difficult person to be close to, but his closest friends always seem to be up for the challenge regardless.

There's a silence where Kenny seems to listen to what Ben is saying on the other end of the phone, then he sighs exasperatedly and squeezes Alexei's hand "I'm with someone" he says awkwardly, voice half caught in his throat, which surprises Alexei, because Kent's very serious about his privacy, especially when it comes to their relationship and his team mates finding out about them.  
"Yeah, they're in Cali so we met up, we're-" Kent pauses, taking a breath before continuing "why don't you just swing by alright, it'll ease your mind, I've been meaning to introduce you both for a while now anyway"  
With his hand still squeezing Alexei's he lists off the name of the hotel their staying in and gives some basic directions to find it, "alright, I'll see you soon" 

Kent ends the call, dropping his phone down on Alexei's pants with a heavy sigh before turning back to him, crawling over his lap and cupping Alexei's face in his hands.  
He presses his forehead to Alexei's and just breathes for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

So often Kent doesn't think before he rushes in, he's always been a little reckless, always had that shoot first ask questions later mentality, so Alexei lets him think, because it must be important if he's taking his time.

"I want Ben to know" he says at last, leaning back to gauge Alexei's reaction, "I'm so fucking tired of making half-assed excuses when it comes to him. I don't want to lie to my best friend anymore either, he worries himself sick over me, and I want him to know that I'm okay, that I'm happy. That we're happy, Alyosha" he rubs his nose against Alexei's, smiling softly when Alexei returns the gesture.  
"Is that okay?" 

Alexei wants more people to know too, he wants to share what they have with so many people, and he can't refuse Kent's request, their relationship is stronger than any he's ever had before, and they're ready for people to know, even if it's just their friends and family, it's enough for them.  
Alexei has Jack and Bitty to share his happiness with, he won't deny Kenny to have the same with Ben.  
And realistically, they probably can't ever come out completely, but they deserve to tell some people.

"You tell him now?" Alexei hums, taking the opportunity to kiss Kent lightly on the lips, repeating the action two more times because he simply can't help himself.  
Kenny smiles against his lips, wrapping his arms loosely around Tater's neck.  
"He'll be over soon, he freaked out when I wasn't in our room back at the hotel. I really do put him through a lot" he frowns.  
"Is very protective of Kenny?" Alexei asks, pressing his lips to his boyfriend's temple, and resting there for a moment.  
"Yeah. Yeah, he is. He's like the older brother I never had y'know?"

Alexei nods, he does know, he has the same connection with A lot of the guys on his team, his rookie year they all accepted him with open arms, helped him with his English, and made him feel better when he was homesick, he even lived with Marty and gabby for a few years before he became comfortable enough with Providence and his English to move into a house of his own.  
He'd decided it was his duty to do the same for Jack, Who he'd only known at the time as the shy French-Canadian rookie with a mystery girlfriend that baked like a God.  
Jack is like his brother now too, he'd do just about anything for him.

"Alexei, I-I know- this whole situation isn't really ideal.. And I kind of just sprung this on you out of the blue. But, I don't want to ever out someone, and definitely not you, against their will-"  
Alexei silences Kenny's nervous rambling with a tender kiss, cupping the back of his head with one hand and rubbing soothing lines into his back with the other.  
"I tell you I'm love you, Kenny, this means you never have to do anything alone again" he reassures him, slipping one side of the bathrobe off Kent's arm to press kisses to his bare shoulder.  
"Alyosha" Kenny exhales, relaxing in his arms.  
"Hm?" He's a little too busy tasting the soap on Kent's skin to Give a more eloquent response.  
"Thank you"  
He does give pause to what he's doing at this though, lifting his head to meet his boyfriend's eyes, both of them are focused completely on him, gazing at him with so much affection it makes Alexei's heart sing.  
"What for?"  
Kent brings a hand up to brush Alexei's hair back from his face, "for taking a chance on me. For not giving up on me where any normal person would. For loving me"  
Alexei rests their foreheads against each other's again, his heart beating for this beautiful man in his arms.  
"We team, Kenny. So I'm thank you too" he surprises him by flipping them back onto the mattress swiftly, grinning at the indignant little yelp Kent lets out. bracketing Him with his arms, he hums in thought as he decides where to touch first.  
He settles on pressing a kiss to the underside of Kenny's jaw, where the skin is starting to purple from a particularly rough check tonight.  
"Thank you for trusting me"  
He kisses the corner of his mouth next as it twitches into a grin, "Thank you for make me happiest man in all world"  
Another directly on his lips, "thank you for opening up to me. For giving me chance"  
"For laughing with me"  
He plants one on the top of Kent's nose, stopping to smile down at him when he laughs, free and unashamedly.  
"For being my home"  
He slides his hand down into Kenny's, bringing it back up to kiss his knuckles, before his boyfriend lurches forward to take his lips. 

They kiss slowly and deeply, the kind of kiss that Alexei has come to know as Kent trying to show how much he cares about him without giving voice to his feelings, and he doesn't mind at all because he's learned to know Kent even when he won't talk.  
When it comes to Kent the saying about silence speaking a thousand words is spot on.

When they do eventually break apart they're both panting slightly, breaths hot on each other's faces as they stare, the moment is so pure, Alexei would give anything to stay in it forever.

"Thank you for loving me back" Alexei finishes, pressing his lips to Kent's forehead.  
Kent Slips his face into the crook of his neck, "how could I not?" 

They lay entangled on the bed for what seems like hours but could realistically only be a few minutes, Alexei with his head resting on Kenny's chest and Kent tracing lines down his back, they're apart so much that when they're together again they just can't keep their hands off each other.

"Should be getting dressed, Kotyonok. Don't think Fuller appreciate seeing us like this" Alexei finally sighs, pushing himself up off the bed to rifle through his bag, he'd packed a few sets of clothes 'cause Kenny has the next 3 days off and Alexei has 2, they'll probably fly back to providence together tomorrow and spend their last day at home. 

He pulls out a pair of boxers and throws them on, glancing back over his shoulder to see if Kenny's up and moving around yet.  
He finds his boyfriend sitting on the end of the bed, a small smile gracing his face as he watches Alexei, big puppy dog eyes trained on him. he's adorable.

"Kenny you not dressing" Alexei hums, crossing the room to the small table where he'd sat Kent's gift earlier, now is as good a time as any to hand it to him, it might inspire to him to get his ass in to gear.  
Kent, stubborn as ever, simply hums and continues watching him.

He loves it when Kent is like this, sometimes he's just content to watch Alexei be, early mornings when he wakes before him, and he's carding his hands through Alexei's hair while he dozes on his chest.  
While he sits at the breakfast bar at home, singing along to Alexei's music while he makes breakfast.  
And sometimes while they're sitting together on the porch swing in Alexei's back yard, Alyona playing fetch with The two of them while they lounge together.  
For someone who's so afraid of love, Kent has never been very good at hiding when he's feeling it.

"Open" Alexei instructs, placing the box on Kenny's lap and taking a seat beside him, "Alexei-" Kent starts, but doesn't get any further, Alexei shushes him with a finger to his lips and pulls him into his lap, tucking his chin over his shoulder.  
"Is surprise. very special"  
"You'll spoil me" Kent grins.  
"Already spoil, open" 

Kent sighs, tearing off the bow without any caution, tossing the ribbon over his shoulder, "I swear if this is expensive I'm gonna fight you" Kent warns, he flips the lid off and discards of the blue tissue paper, staring down at his gift with a stunned expression.  
"Alexei- oh my-" he takes the Falconers jersey out of the box (it's about 2 sizes too large for Him), running a thumb over the 'C' embroidered onto the chest, before flipping it over to read the word "MASHKOV" printed on the back.  
"Holy shit" Kent springs out of his lap with so much enthusiasm Alexei's surprised he doesn't hit his head on the ceiling.  
He's grinning so brightly and shrugging out of his robe, throwing it at the nearest wall.

Alexei laughs, he was expecting Kenny to be happy for him but he didn't expect this much excitement.  
He looks down at the jersey that falls around his thighs with so much pride shining in his green eyes, before launching himself at Alexei.  
"When did this happen?" He all but shouts, chuckling as Alexei dissolves into giggles underneath him.  
"Is being announced before next game, only team know for now"  
Kent gets a sly little glint in his eye at this, "well, captain, it's probably unwise to share such classified information with the enemy"  
Alexei smiles, a light flush colouring his cheeks as he leans in to peck his boyfriend on the lips "you my team"  
Kent melts at this, wrapping himself around Alexei in a hug.  
"I'm so proud of you, Alyosha" He whispers, kissing his cheek.

Alexei holds him as close to him as he can, running his hands up and down the fabric of his jersey.  
"We NHL power couple now, Kenny"  
Kent laughs, leaning back to Press their foreheads together, "yeah?"  
"Mhmm, like hockey kardashian-west's"  
"Aw nah, we've got way better asses than those posers"  
Alexei throws his head back laughing, sliding his hands down to Kent's ass, and squeezing a cheek in each hand "mmm see point" he hums.

A call from the phone on the bedside table pulls them from their celebration, Kent crawls off Alexei's lap to pick it up. 

Alexei hops up too, deciding he should probably throw a shirt on as well, it's no doubt The front desk calling for permission to send Ben up. 

He feels a knot growing tight in the pit of his stomach at the thought of it all.  
Kent's best friend, a man that Kent loves with all his heart, is about to find out that Kent is in a relationship with a man, and the man is another NHL player.  
He's terrified.  
What if he's disgusted, what if he tries to hurt Kent, worse still what if he outs them both, turns Kent's team against him. Ruins Kenny's life. What if he can't accept that his captain is in love with another man, or what if he just can't accept that that man is Alexei?

The NHL isn't exactly an accepting environment, even with the small group of players who may not mind, there's a difference between being pro-sexuality in theory and being okay with sharing a locker room with a gay man.  
Not to mention the slurs that get thrown around not only by players but fans too, they're taking a huge risk even being in a relationship, let alone sharing that with one of Kent's team mates.

"Alyosha? Are you okay?"  
He's worrying so much he doesn't even realise that Kent is finished with the call and is now taking his hand, looking up at him with concern plastered across his pretty face.  
He must've been freaking out for a while there, because he can see that Kenny's also put a pair of boxers on underneath his jersey.  
"Yes. Am just little worried" he replies sheepishly, resting his chin on the top of Kent's head.  
"Me too" Kenny admits, his voice muffled by Alexei's chest where he has his face pressed to.  
Alexei opens his mouth to say something, maybe reassure Kent or himself, he's not entirely sure, because before he can even think to get anything out there's a knock at the door.

"Ready?" Kent squeezes his hand one more time, pulling back to look up into his face, searching for any signs of hesitation.  
Alexei swallows, forcing himself to smile weakly and nod.  
Their relationship is worth any obstacles they can be expected to overcome, Alexei reminds himself.

Kent reaches up to kiss him one more time for good measure, before crossing to the door, taking a deep breath before he unlocks it and swings it open.

Fuller smiles down at Kent From the other side,  
"you okay? You look like you're about to hurl, parser" he chirps, Kent pulls him into the room muttering a "yeah, cos' your ugly mug just showed up" which earns him a laugh and a punch to the shoulder from his D-man.  
Fuller steps into the room, taking the place in before his eyes land on Alexei, his smile promptly drops from his face.  
"C'mon man!, you told Mashkov about your girlfriend before me?" He looks a mix between genuinely offended and confused as all hell, Alexei shoots a glance to Kenny, who rubs at the back of his neck looking tense.  
"What's going on ken?" Ben asks quietly when he notices how uncomfortable they both are.  
The tension in the room is so thick it's a wonder they're not smothering to death.

Alexei takes in a deep breath and decides to bite the bullet for the sake of his boyfriend.  
Putting on a smile he closes the remaining distance from him to Ben and extends an arm.  
"Please to meet you, I'm Kenny's boyfriend" 

Ben's brown eyes widen, and he snorts, looking to Kent "parse, man you know jokes like this aren't cool, right?" 

Alexei lets his hand fall to his side.

"He's being serious, Ben" Kent comes to stand beside him, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together.  
"This is my boyfriend"

Ben looks completely shell shocked, "shit. Uh- good to meet you too" he holds out his hand, looking embarrassed as all hell and even more Regretful.  
Alexei glances at Kenny in surprise and takes Ben's hand, shaking it firmly.

"Fuck- Sorry about the joke comment, I meant it was uncool to make fun of being gay- or however you both identify- Not- y'know" he stumbles over his words. Looking between them, he seems to notice Kent's state of undress. 

Alexei has seen the Aces Pr videos, and he's come to get a feel for each of Kent's team mates' personalities, that and the stories Kent shares with him had led him to believe that Ben Fuller was confident, in interviews he's always making Kent laugh, on the ice he dominates, and according to Kent he's the most fierce of his friends when it comes to taking care of him.  
This Ben though is sheepish and apologetic, his eyes downcast, shoulders tense, stumbling over his words.  
It's strange to see.

"Is okay, you not offending Kenny or me" Alexei reassures him, trying to ease some of the tension between the three of them, he looks back to Kenny, who is now clutching his hand like a lifeline and staring at his feet.

"Ken, you know this doesn't change anything, right? You're my brother. I've had your back for 6 years on and off the ice, who you love won't ever interfere with that. I've got you" Ben speaks up, looking hurt by the idea that Kent would ever even consider a different response from him.

"So you don't- you don't care that I'm bisexual?" 

"Fuck No, and I'm grateful that you'd choose to share that with me, really. I didn't mean to pressure you with all the talking about girls and everything, I just worry about you. I thought that if there was something making you happy you'd want to share it with us" 

"And you don't have any.. I don't know, objections to me being with Alexei?" Kent asks, glancing back up at him with a loving expression before looking back to Ben.

"If it works for you guys I'm fully supportive of it, hell, I could even help cover for you if you ever need it. But You know you could've told me sooner, right? I get why you'd be cautious of it but, Kent, you've gotta stop with all this Lone Ranger bullshit, you're not alone, I would've thought you'd know that by now. I love you, kid"

Kent throws himself at Ben, who simply opens his arms and welcomes his Captain in with a hug, brushing Kent's hair back in a familiar soothing gesture.

They really do look like family, despite their physical differences, Alexei can see the love they both have for each other, it's very touching to witness.

"So, how long has this been going on then?" Ben asks conversationally when they break apart and Kent rejoins him by his side.

"6 months" Alexei supplies happily, curling an arm around Kent's waist and pulling him against him, Kenny goes easily, curling his own arm across Alexei in a semi hug.

"Shit. You two are pretty legit then, that's great. Congratulations" 

"This isn't going to affect how we are on the ice either, when we're out there we're Parson and Mashkov. I'm not gonna stop beating his ass just because he's my boyfriend" Kent nudges his side playfully.

"You don't have to reassure me of anything, I follow you, Parser. If you say this is good then it's good, no questions. The only thing I care about is your happiness" 

Alexei feels like a weight has been lifted from his chest, acceptance even from someone he doesn't really know is so nice. And he's over the moon for Kenny, who can have what they have and still have his life without keeping the two separate.  
It's all he's ever wanted for him.

"Thank you for understanding, being supportive of Kenny" Alexei really is grateful, he feels bad about how worried he was, he didn't mean to assume the worst, it's just in his experience men tend to have a negative reaction to this sort of thing.

"Yeah, well love with condition isn't really love .. I should get back anyway, the boys somehow got pat roped into doing tequila shots, and one thing led to another, poor kid has the tolerance level of a white girl at a frat party" 

"Those fuckers" Kent shakes his head in bemusement, "sorry I made you come all the way here, I just- it's easier just to show you than to have to explain it all"  
Ben shrugs him off, "it's alright, Ken. You two have fun, but not too much fun. and uh take good care of my boy here alright?" Ben shakes Alexei's hand one more time, speaking to him directly, "I don't have to warn you about what'll happen if anything happens to my captain, right?" 

Ben is a big guy, about an inch shorter than Alexei, with, at the least, 200 lb on him, Alexei hasn't had to clash with him on ice more than just the regular offence and defence, as interesting as meeting Fuller off the ice might be, he doesn't plan on fighting any of Kent's team mates anytime in the foreseeable future.  
Still, he's flattered by the devotion Ben has to him.

"Ben-" Kent huffs, like he's a child being embarrassed by his parent, but Ben only shushes him "you should be glad it's me giving your boyfriend the shovel talk, any of the other guys would've just decked him and let that speak for itself. Oh, and it goes without saying that this conversation is left in this room. The boys probably didn't even realise I'd left" Ben reassures them, "it was nice meeting you Mashkov. I'll see you back at home, I'm assuming you'll be finding your own way back?" Ben asks Kent, who flushes an attractive shade of rose before squeaking out "uh, yeah. I'm gonna go to providence with Alexei for the day, go home after that" 

"Sweet. Angie wants you to come over for dinner on Wednesday too, Lil' Ken wants to see you" 

Alexei's seen Kent's 3 year old godson Kendrick in photos and videos, Kent's the fuller's babysitter more often than not 'cause Ken Jr is a handful and Kent isn't busy most of the time anyway, and loves spending time with him. Kent had promised one day he'd introduce Alexei to the Fullers, so they could meet, "Ken would love you, he'd want you to carry him around everywhere" Kent had said once, it made Alexei feel all warm and fuzzy inside to think of Kent with cute little kids, he'd deliberately not let his mind wander to the image of Kent holding little blonde haired or brown haired children that would call Alexei papa.

"I'll be there" Kent nods, Ben takes this as the end of the conversation and turns to leave before Kent stops him, "and Ben- I just.. Thank you, for everything" 

Ben looks touched by this for a full 2 seconds before he mock rolls his eyes, "you going soft at your age already, Parson?" 

"Fuck you" Kent laughs, apparently this is a normal thing for them to do.

"You're welcome, kid"  
Ben takes his leave, leaving the two of the standing alone again in their room, still holding each other.

Alexei presses his lips to the top of Kenny's head, resting his chin there when he speaks "that wasn't so bad, yes?" 

He doesn't get an answer from Kent, who's breath stutters before being blown out, Alexei can feel it where he's holding him.  
When he pulls back and turns Kent to look at him, he discovers his boyfriend isn't answering because he's in tears, and trying to cry without being discovered.

"I'm sorry. I'm so stupid, I'm sorry" Kent huffs out, swiping his eyes frantically, Alexei takes his hands and pulls them from his face, lifting Kenny's chin till he makes eye contact with him, " there no shame in crying, Kotyonok. You let out, I'm hold you" he pulls Kent back into him, and walks them to the bed, pulling Kent into his lap when he takes a seat on the edge.

"I wasn't expecting him to be so accepting.. I was bracing myself for the worst and he just- I don't know why I expect the worst from everyone. It shouldn't always surprise me when people take my side" Kent speaks into his chest, eyes shut tight and tears soaking through the fabric of Alexei's shirt to wet his skin.

"Is okay, Kenny. Lots of people not expect to go their way, is normal" Alexei reassures him, he knows how Kent feels to expect the worst from people he cares about when it comes to who he loves.  
"Yeah but, it's still annoying that I get so emotional about it. I feel like a fucking pussy" 

Alexei feels his protective streak flare at this.  
"I'm cry when I'm realise I'm loving you, Kotyonok" he admits without really thinking, his face turning beet red when he promptly realises what he's just blurted out.

Kenny only snorts into his chest, not moving, "yeah right. you don't have to try make me feel better, Alyosha" 

"I'm not lie" Alexei hisses, affronted.  
Now Kent moves, looking up at Alexei with a strange expression "you cried?" He asks, still disbelieving.  
Alexei nods, "I'm cry for longest time all over Zimmboni and itty Bitty"  
Kent ducks his head, cheeks growing pink, still tear-streaked.  
"you're unbelievable" but he's smiling, looking charmed and even a little happy at the discovery.  
"You want I'm cry right now" Alexei says, "cry all over you like big baby, you have to hold me then"  
Kent grins, dimples on full display as he tries so obviously not to give Alexei the satisfaction of a smile.  
"You're ridiculous" Kent shakes his head, still smiling like he's trying to outshine the sun, "how am I so in love with you?"  
"Am best" Alexei supplies, grinning smugly.  
"Yeah you are" Kent kisses him, his cheeks are still damp where Alexei holds his face, tracing his jawline with his thumbs. 

They fall back on the bed together, their kisses warm and soft, Kent winds his hands into Alexei's hair, running his fingers gently along his scalp, the way he always does when he's feeling affectionate but unsure how to communicate it.  
Alexei could drown in Kent's kisses, they're so passionate, even when they're just lightly pressing their lips together, Alexei feels like he's receiving the full strength of the sun focused on his face.  
That's what Kenny is to him, a giant burning star that encompasses him completely, floods him with warmth and could burn him like a flare.  
He would let Kent eat him whole.

What started as soft warmth grows more heated, until Alexei is slipping his fingers underneath Kent's jersey, running his hands up the length of Kent's warm skin, his other hand curling around his body to grab a handful of his boyfriend's ass, his fingers slipping into the crease of his cheeks when he squeezes, and Kent bucks against him, their clothed dick's brushing against each other.  
"Kenny.. Want ask you something" Alexei gasps, his face decorating the side of Kent's neck with kisses, his hand now firmly placed down the back of Kent's boxers, rhythmically squeezing that ass he loves so much, to the timing of their slow thrusts against each other.

Kent has both hands up Alexei's shirt, teasing his nipples, his face marking up Alexei's collarbone.  
"Right now?" He grunts, sounding perplexed and out of breath.  
"Is important" Alexei swallows, his mind slightly hazy from desire.

Kent groans, sitting up to straddle Alexei's lap, he looks down at him questioningly.

"Is.. Not know how to say" Alexei fumbles, he's been thinking about asking Kent this for a long time, he was hoping Kent might ask him eventually but his boyfriend has a little trouble getting his desires spoken out loud.  
Kent takes his hand, bringing it up to his mouth to Kiss Alexei's knuckles before pressing his fist to his cheek and nuzzling against it.  
"Alexei, whatever you want, you can ask me. I want to know what you're thinking" 

Alexei swallows around the lump growing in his throat, mustering up as much courage as his body contains to get out the next sentence, "want you to fuck me, Kenny" 

Kent's eyes grow wide and seem to darken right in front of him, his mouth falling open, pink lips kiss bitten and slack, he gazes down at Alexei like he wants to devour him.  
It's enough to make him quiver.

"holy shit- Alyosha, I- fuck. Have you ever done that?" Kent stutters, like his mind is breaking off into a thousand different pieces that all want to go a different way.

Alexei is hardly a Virgin, he's had a few boyfriends and had a decent number of sexual partners, but he's only ever been able to get himself off with toys penetratively, he's just always gotten so uncomfortable when he tries it with another person, but he really wants to try with Kent.

"I'm use toys and fingers, but never with-" he trails off, growing embarrassed. Kent is beautiful and has experience with this sort of thing, Alexei was a very awkward teenager that only grew into his size around the time he was 19. He feels so silly and undesirable in comparison to his boyfriend.  
"Baby, it's okay. Hey, look at me" Kent soothes, running his hands up and down Alexei's arms until he meets his eyes again.  
His cheeks are dark red and only seem to grow hotter when Kenny speaks to him.  
"Do you like that, when I call you baby?" Kent asks, voice low and gentle.  
Alexei nods, licking his lips nervously, he likes it a lot when Kent calls him names.

"Okay, that's good, baby. That's really good. When was the last time you tried it?"  
"Been practicing, want be ready for you"  
Kent bites his lip and closes his eyes for a second, seeming to gather himself.  
"Jesus, do you have any idea what you're doing to me, Alyosha?" He grunts, body tense like he's physically restraining himself from ravaging Alexei on the spot.  
"I'm think of you when my fingers inside me" Alexei admits timidly, Kent curses, leaning down to kiss him again, this one hungry and desperate.  
"Fucking hell, Alyosha" Kent grunts against his lips, eyes heavy lidded and almost completely black as they stare at him.  
"Are you sure? It could be.. Uncomfortable and you have to play soon" Kent questions, his eyes screwed tight like he's thinking very heavily about this.  
"I can handle, want you most, Kenny" Alexei breathes, he's sure he wants this. He's been preparing himself more and more over the two months they spent separated, and Alexei has even gotten himself off with a dildo a handful of times, He's positive that this is what he wants, and he wants it tonight.

"Okay. Okay, baby, let's get you ready" Kent Nods, slipping from his arms to gather what they need.  
He instructs Alexei to lay back on the pillows after stripping off his clothes, placing one underneath his hips when Kent tells him to.  
He watches Kent strip down until he's gloriously naked again, coming to perch between Alexei's spread legs, hands running smoothly up and down his thighs.  
"If you want to stop, we'll stop right away alright?"  
Alexei nods, "alright"  
Kent, pleased with his answer, flips the top on the tube of lube he'd retrieved from the bathtub, spreading it across his fingers before squeezing out a generous blob and slipping his fingers down Alexei's cheeks.

He resists the urge to buck up at the coldness of the lube, taking a deep breath and letting it out through his nose, it will be more enjoyable if he relaxes.  
Kent eases him into it, slowly rubbing his fingers across Alexei's hole first, nothing insistent just a patient sensation.  
Kent's eyes flick back up to his after a few good minutes of just this, an unspoken question being communicated between the two of them, Alexei nods, signalling that he's ready for more.  
Kent pulls back to coat his fingers in lube once again before the tip of his pointer finger is inserted into Alexei's hole.  
He breathes through Kent slowly pushing his finger deeper until he's knuckle deep, his eyes haven't left Alexei's face and he's wearing a very determined look about him that Alexei's sure he's seen before on the ice.

When Kent slips a second finger in beside the first, Alexei squirms, seeking more, but Kent only hushes his desperate whining and steadies his hips with a hand spread across them, voice hushed and gentle when he says "relax, baby. Let me take care of you"  
His fingers scissor inside him and Alexei groans, Kenny is right there with him though, his forehead pressed to Alexei's, eyes searching.  
"take such good care of you, Alyosha. Like you do with me"

They continue like this for a handful of minutes Kent whispering soft endearments in the space between them, Alexei feels so good and so loved, before Kent's fingers slip from him, ripping a soft wanton gasp from his throat.  
But then Kent's pulling back to tear open a condom packet and he's rolling it on before taking Alexei's thighs and spreading them just a little further.  
He hovers over Alexei like a guardian angel, his hands coming up to tangle with Alexei's above their heads, lips pressing to his as he lines himself up and slowly thrusts in.

Alexei's breath hitches, and he presses his face to Kent's, eyes falling shut as Kent moves experimentally, hips grinding down against him in a way that's so gentle and smooth Alexei wants to cry.

"Okay?" Kent breathes, rubbing their noses together in an Eskimo kiss, Alexei smiles "is good"  
Kent smiles too at this, grinding down a little more surely against him.

Alexei feels so full, with every thrust from Kenny, a soft whine is punched from his chest, and he's embarrassed at the way he sounds, like a kitten almost, But Kent is watching him intently and only seems more determined.  
"Fuck- Alyosha, you're so beautiful" Kent grunts, "look at you. God, Look at you, Baby. You're so pretty" 

Alexei's face is on fire, Kent is the only man that's ever called him pretty, he doesn't really think he is, he's much too large and awkward, not like Kenny, sweet, gorgeous Kenny who thinks Alexei is beautiful.

"Kenny" he whines, surprised by how different he sounds, his voice throaty in a way it's never been before, his shyness somehow shining through it.  
"Good. so good, Alexei. Let me hear you"  
Alexei closes his eyes against Kent's, feels their eyelashes batting against each other's, he breathes out and lets go.

He's never really been so vocal during sex before, sure he talks a lot but he's not usually this loud with the moaning and gasping, he's so surprised by himself, by how much better this feels with Someone- no. With Kent. it feels so good with Kent.

They're a tangle of limbs, Alexei's pale skin a striking contrast to Kent's caramel shade, his thighs are wrapped around Kent's back, ankles hooked over each other as they move, it's so intimate, so special.  
He's glad he waited.

"Close- Kenny. so much" Alexei gasps, head thrown back, he can vaguely make out their reflection in the ceiling mirror, can see the way The muscles of Kent's ass flex when he thrusts inside him, the plane of his boyfriends bare back, his own face staring up at him, noises falling from his mouth like confetti. They make quite the picture, Alexei really does think they're beautiful together.

As Kent moves faster against him, his moans increase in volume until he's almost yelling, and he'd feel so embarrassed about what their neighbours might be thinking and hearing, if he didn't feel so much.  
The sound of Kent's skin slapping against his, the smell of them both, One of Kent's hand slips from his grasp to come in between them, taking Alexei in hand and stroking to the rhythm of their hips.  
All the while Alexei is chanting Kent's name like a prayer, and Kent is whispering against him, the dirtiest most sweetest things Alexei has ever heard. 

"Come for me. Show me- god show me. I'm right here with you, baby. We're right here together"

Alexei finally comes with Kent's name on his tongue, his voice sounds like it shatters as he spills rope after rope of come across his stomach and chest, Kent following soon after with a shout.

He feels so boneless, his mind so soft and light, limbs heavy, he could fall asleep right now from exhaustion, but instead he kisses Kent like it's their last day on earth, his lips moving desperately against his, wanting everything, all Kent has to give him.

They stay like this for a time, just kissing each other senseless, Before Kenny pulls out as gently as he can, tying off the condom and disposing of it.  
He's gone for a short time after that, Alexei can hear water in the adjoining bathroom.  
He feels strange, cold almost and he wants Kenny against him again.  
Tears are gathering in his eyes and slipping down his cheeks, he feels so- just so much.

"Alyosha, baby! Fuck- fuck. Did I hurt you?" Kent's hovering over him, a wet washer clenched tight in his fists, and his eyes wild and panicked. Alexei reaches up to cup his face, "no. No, Kenny. You best. I'm just silly, miss you when you go"  
Kent softens at this, bending down to press a kiss to Alexei's nose with a tender smile "I'd never leave you"  
Alexei nods, swiping at his eyes. he believes him.

Kent cleans them both up, Bringing Alexei some water from the minibar, and brushing his hair back from his face while he lays beside him under the covers.  
Alexei curls against him, resting his head Against Kent's chest, his boyfriends arms are curled around him, holding him tight, his lips pressed to Alexei's head.  
"I love you so much, Alyosha" Kent whispers, carding a hand through his hair. "You're so beautiful and strong. You blow my mind, Alexei" he soothes. "Thank you for sharing that with me, for giving me that. Was it okay? Are you okay?"  
Alexei looks up at him, "was best, I'm never feel so- whole before" he answers, finding Kent's hand and entwining it with his own.  
"You were so beautiful, I've never heard you make noises like that before- god, I just wanted to eat you whole"  
Alexei feels his face heating up, and he resists the urge to hide it in the crook of Kent's neck.  
"Would let you" he says instead, "love you so much"  
Kent smiles his beautiful sunshine smile and pulls Alexei closer until he's half on top of him, his leg thrown over Kent's hips, the other tangled between Kent's own.  
"You're so good to me" Kent whispers, eyes falling shut.  
Alexei closes his own, feeling so loved and peaceful, it's the best he's felt in a long long time, even though every second spent with Kenny is like heaven.  
"Deserve best" Alexei yawns, snuggling closer to his boyfriend and letting sleep take him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back y'all!   
> This chapters just some background on Kenny and Ben's relationship, because i think it's pretty important that Kent have his own life and people who love him aside from Alexei y'know?
> 
> I'm hoping to update a lot sooner now, and I hope you all don't feel to cheated that there's no Kenny and Alexei cuteness in this chapter. 
> 
> I apologise in advance for the quality of this chapter, it took me a long time to finish because I have so much planned for the story and it's so hard to focus! The next chapter will be so much better xxx

The first time Ben Fuller meets Kent Parson, he's not entirely sure what to make of him. 

He's expecting a teenage kid, fresh from the draft and excited to start their rookie year in the NHL, lord knows that's what he was like on his first day, you couldn't get him to shut up and sit down for more than two seconds at a time.   
Kent Parson, on the other hand, is quiet as a mouse, he's a little on the shorter side for Ben who stands at 6'3, and the poor kid looks so young and so scared, it makes his stomach twist for him.

That fear, however, is quickly covered up when he's taken around to the room to meet the boys.   
Ben would swear that the kid he just saw and the one who's enthusiastically introducing himself to the team right now, can't possibly be the same person.  
it was like someone flipped a switch and changed his whole personality.  
His eyes, though, are those same uncertain way, like a porcelain doll's, cold and glassy, vacant, red rimmed with bags that suggest a night of crying, not the regular night of excited anticipation most rookies have. If anyone was really looking hard enough they'd notice how the kid's smiles don't even reach them, they're twisted like a mockery of what a smile should Be like. It's like looking into different mirrors at a fun house, Ben thinks.

When Kent reaches him, he offers his hand as non- threateningly as he can and Ben wouldn't even really have to look to know that Kent's are shaking where they've just come out of his pockets.   
"Welcome to Vegas, man" he smiles in what he hopes is a comforting gesture, which judging by the small upturn of his lips, is enough for Kent.  
"You blew everyone away in the draft, I hear. It's good you're here with us, from the sounds of it you're our ticket to the cup"   
Kent smiles, It's not genuine but it's a little better than the tight lipped one he witnessed earlier.  
"You nervous?" Ben turns back to his stall, a small protective part of him glad when Kent glances around the room and takes the one to his right.  
"That obvious?"   
Ben smiles, nudging the kid with his shoulder when he catches the way Parson is just staring down at his feet.   
"Hey, don't sweat it, I'd be concerned if you weren't nervous, dude"   
He's rewarded with another tight little smile that Kent ducks his head at the last minute of. 

He seems like a good kid, shy, pretty, well mannered, and apparently one hell of a hockey player, Ben just hopes this life doesn't break the poor kid, shy polite boys don't tend to stay that way forever, especially in the league.  
And the media was already following Parson's every move, picking him apart like vultures. Ben felt a strong surge of sympathy for the poor kid.   
His apparent best friend was the team's first choice, and that same friend had only attempted to kill himself recently, no wonder the poor kid looked like he'd been crying all night. 

He wanted, mostly to reassure Parson that the team was extremely lucky to have him join them, and he felt like maybe if he could get the poor kid to just smile, really smile, once it might make him feel just a tad better.  
He didn't know how but he was going to make him smile once at least before the day was through.

It only takes one practice to learn that Kent Parson may be a little on the shy side in conversation, but on the ice the kid is a star.  
He's fast, black-and-white-blur-on-the-ice fast and he easily outmanoeuvres the bigger guys on the team, uses his speed to check like he's made of solid bricks and handles the puck like he was born for it.   
It goes without saying that he's better than the aces could've possibly hoped he'd be, but the team wastes no time in telling him regardless.  
"Damn, Parson, first overall sounds about fucking right" Vinnie the left side to Ben's right, grins, pulling a very sheepish looking Kent into a hug,   
"Hey, language!" one of the guys calls, presumably Mitch who's too Minnesota for his own damn good.   
"He's in the league man he's not 6" Vinnie barks, before turning back to Kent, "you're from the city right?"   
Kent nods, still looking a little out of his element at all the positive comments being shot at him at once.  
"Me too man, Harlem born and raised. It's good your with us, and if you need anything this team looks out for their own, but feel free to come to me and fuller, we're your d-men and we got your back"   
Kent nods, smiling gratefully at the both of them.

It is until after practice that Ben finds Parson in tears. Management asks him to give Kent a ride to the hotel he's staying at until he finds an apartment, most rookies are more comfortable staying with an older team mate but apparently Parson would prefer to be alone.  
Kent's standing outside the rink in the parking lot, his phone clenched in his fist where he's holding it to his ear, pacing back and forth, and talking softly in what sounds like French, he can't be sure because the poor kid's sobbing so hard he's barely coherent, and trying his hardest to contain it, but his chest seizes up with every delayed breath he sucks down, and the sounds that slip from his throat are heartbreaking.  
Ben occupies himself with his phone and politely blocks out the conversation he knows he shouldn't be witness to. It's only after Kent hangs up that he approaches.   
"Hey, man, you ready to go?" He wants to ask him if he's okay, but judging by the way Kent's sniffling and swiping frantically at his eyes, he doesn't want Ben to address the state he's in.   
He says "yes, thank you" and keeps his eyes glued to the ground as Ben leads him to his car. 

While they're driving, he turns on the radio so Kent won't feel uncomfortable in the silence.  
Regardless It's probably the most uncomfortable car ride Ben has ever been in, its tense and awkward and Seeing the poor kid so upset is tugging at his heartstrings so much he almost feels like crying too.  
It's the way parson's bodily trembling with the little gasps of air his body sucks in after crying so much, the telltale sniffle and the way Kent is digging his fingernails into his own arms so hard they break skin. 

Fuller realises he has a choice to make here, does he A) embarrass the kid by asking him what's got him so shaken up? Or,  
B) do what any other guy would do in his place and allow the poor kid to suffer just to keep whatever masculinity or pride he has intact? 

Ben grew up the youngest child of 4 kids, and the only boy in his family, His mother died around the time he was 6 and his Father did everything he could to raise his kids well. His life wasn't always easy, and being a large, black man didn't always help with any of that.  
His Father worked hard his whole life to provide him and his sisters with everything they needed, and his older sisters made sure he was the best person he could be.  
Mr Fuller is old school, he was the kind of man that demanded respect, but outside of that Ben's father is the kindest person he knows, who for all the pain he'd been through in his life had never let it turn him cold.  
Ben grew up wanting to be even a fraction of the man his Father is.  
And maybe, someone else could ignore Parson's tears and sit silently the entire ride, not get involved in something that was none of their business. But Ben couldn't.

Clearing his throat awkwardly he takes the leap,   
"I want to ask you something" his voice sounds much too loud in the car after the only noise occupying the small space for the past 5 or so minutes being the radio, and he sees The way Parson flinches in the corner of his eye.   
"But before I do, I want you to know that you don't have to answer me. And that it's okay to not want to answer me, alright? We can go right back to sitting silently with this cloud of tension over our heads if that's what you want, okay?"   
Kent licks his lips, his eyes flicking up to Ben's before returning resolutely to his lap, "okay"   
"Alright. Look, I know that we don't really know each other well, and if you're anything like me then you probably have a hard time opening up, But, you're my team mate now, and that means something.   
I've got your back on the ice and I've got your back off it too, get me?"   
Kent swallows, eyes shifting to him for a fraction of a second before returning to his lap "Got you"  
"Good" Ben takes a deep breath, worried about what he's going to say next, "I'm sure you know it's no secret what happened to Bob Zimmerman's kid"  
At this he can visibly see the discomfort on Kent's face, and the tension in the line of his shoulders.  
"Shit, I mean, the whole fucking world's talking about it. man, I'm not one to talk about shit I don't have any business talking about, but, from what I hear this kid was close to you"   
A quick glance at Kent in his passenger seat, tells Ben all he really needs to know on the subject. Parson's face crumples like a wilting flower and tears are spilling down his face all over again.  
"Watching someone you love go through pain like that, and not being able to help.. I can't imagine what that's like for you kid. I was just a kid when I lost my mom though, and after that I wasn't the same for a long time.  
Shit like that, you shouldn't have to deal with shit like that alone, is what I'm saying. And you don't have to"   
Kent sniffles and looks over at him with wide, wet eyes, the stunned expression on his face only making him seem so much younger. It's heartbreaking, he thinks.

It's strange but already he feels responsible for Kent, connected somehow, he wants him to be okay.   
Which is why he offers what he does next.

"Listen, man, I know how hard it can be, moving here, being without your family, or your friends.  
So, if you'd rather not be alone, you can come stay with me, I lived with team mates when I was signed too, and I think it'll really help you feel more comfortable. My house has plenty of space, and you can stay just until you get settled if you want"   
Parson's still looking at him like he's speaking a different language, or as if he's waiting for the punch line to Ben's joke.  
"You don't have to pity me. I can take care of myself" he says, shifting in his seat.  
"I don't pity you. Although I do feel a little bad your hair sticks up like that"   
This startles an amused snort out of the kid, a real smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, which only fuels his determination to get a good one out of the him.  
"Alfalfa looking ass"   
Kent grins, and it's satisfying beyond belief, as he laughs and slugs Ben in the arm across the centre console, wiping at his cheeks.  
"Gotta text the boys, tell em' I found your nickname"  
"Don't even joke" Kent groans, but he looks lighter now then he has all day.

A few comfortable minutes go by before Parson speaks again, this time his voice is hushed, like he's ashamed, "it should've been him"   
Ben glances over at him, the way he seems so small and fragile like the glass ornaments Ben's mother used to keep in their home, Ben had broken a few of them over the years of his childhood, and just like then he realises that he really doesn't want to break this one.  
"Zimmermann?"  
Kent nods, "he should be here. It was never meant to be me" the way he says it tears Ben's heart to shreds, he can tell Kent really believes this, that he doesn't think he got here by himself but rather as a consolation prize once Zimmermann was off the table. It's bullshit. Ben's seen the kid on the ice, and he doesn't believe Parson got anything more than exactly what he deserved, anyone who tells him any different is going to have him to deal with from this moment on.  
"Have you seen yourself out on the ice, kid?"  
Parson shakes his head meekly and wrings his hands between each other.  
"You play like you're fucking born for it. Look, honestly, I believe you still would've been first draft if Zimmermann were there with you. We're fucking lucky to have you"  
Kent doesn't relax even the slightest, just bows his head and accepts what must be something very painful for him to admit "he hates me"  
Ben wishes he could reassure the poor kid that his friend doesn't feel that way about him, but he doesn't really know that, and the way Kent says it, with a sickening finality in his voice and his eyes hollow like someone has dug out all the happiness from them, he sounds so sure.  
"Sometimes-" Ben fumbles for the right words, thinking he should really think before he speaks sometimes, but the devastated look on Parson's face is making him so sorry he can't help but jump to reassure him.  
"Sometimes people grow apart, y'know? It's just a natural thing.   
When you're a teenager you think that everything important is what's around you in that moment, a lot of people forget what a shitty time your life can be when you're younger and you don't know what you want or how to achieve it.  
My point is, your life is only just now starting, look at you, you're first overall and you're training for your first year as an NHL player, that's huge. Sometimes to move forward you just have to let go of things that are behind you, and you don't know, man, maybe you'll find each other again along the way" 

Kent sniffles, nodding slowly "thanks. I- I just never thought I'd be here without him, I feel like… like I'm missing a part of me"  
Ben can understand where he's coming from, "tell you what, we're gonna get your shit from your hotel and go back to mine, I'm no Canadian Hockey legacy but I have your back. Your teammates are what's going to get you through all the hard times, and I think you could use the company. What do you say parson, you in?"   
"I'm in"

 

There's still sometimes now when Ben isn't sure about Kent, for all their years together he still feels like sometimes he doesn't really know who Kent Parson is beyond what Kent wants him to know, which is frustrating, considering he's the only person Kent ever let get so close to him.  
Kent's like the brother he always wanted, they lived together for 4 years, he was Ben's best man at his wedding, his fucking son is named after him, he's had Kent's back on and off the ice for the entirety of Kent's career, and Kent has done the same for him, which is why he's so protective of him.

A lot of the other boys don't really get it, they see Kent as this easygoing playboy who's down for a good time whenever and handles his own shit like a man should, Ben sees past that simply because he's actually bothered to, the team worships him for it and he doesn't blame the boys for it, a lot of the strength they see in Kent is the reason why Ben loves him so much, but they get so caught up in their own damn idealisations of Kent that they don't ever bother trying to see the real him. 

Parson's never taken anyone home that Ben has ever seen a second time, he's not fond of parties and isn't one for clubs but will suffer through both for the benefit or enjoyment of other people, He's a lot smarter than he lets on, fiercely loyal, not much of a brawler but will willingly drop his gloves if anyone puts a hand on one of his players, he lives for his fans, and he's dedicated to the game.  
He's a giant softie, claims to not care about a whole lot, but Ben's seen him with his mother and sister, and he's seen him with Kendrick.   
He's also probably the saddest person Ben has ever met, Carries the weight of the world on his shoulders without complaint, he admires that about Kent, and Ben's witnessed him grow from that broken teenager he had to hold through breakdowns to the great man he is today. But sometimes it's hard to stop worrying about someone whose tears you dried for years.

This is why he's so concerned for Kent when the team starts seeing less of him outside of mandatory events, games: the things Kent never misses because he's captain and a good fucking one at that.   
Kent is the kind of person who, for all his flamboyant stunts and acts, is very serious about his privacy, which a lot of people wouldn't expect considering he tweets like a 17 year old girl and posts a photo of his cat every 5 seconds on Instagram (Ben loves Kit, but that's not the point).  
Even when Kent is around these days it's like he's somewhere else, it reminds Ben of the way he was his rookie year, distant, ghost walking his way through days and pushing himself harder and harder on the ice.

It started a couple months back, around the time they'd played the falcs for the first time since Zimmermann was signed to them, he could remember how jittery Kent was in the weeks leading up to it, how hard he worked all of them each practice. He remembered most of all, how despite their victory Kent didn't seem any better than before the game, but was adamant about celebrating, and inviting the Falcs to join them.

Ben had been worried for him that night, but he couldn’t stick around to talk things out with him, Kendrick and Angie were at home waiting for him and he really hated being late to tucking Kenny Jr into bed. He'd asked Swoops to keep an eye on Kent anyway, James was a good kid, and he and Kent had been close since he'd been traded to the aces a few years back, Swoops was also the only other person who seemed to really see their captain.

The following morning at practice Ben had heard a couple of the boys talking about Mashkov, Pat, from the sounds of it, had a bit of a hockey crush on the Falcs D-man and was currently listing off his stats, while Vinnie and Swoops chirped him.  
"I'm just saying he's definitely one of the most valuable Defence-men in the NHL"   
Vinnie scoffed at this, "you fucking traitor" he accused, grinning nonetheless.   
Vinnie, despite his foul mouth and threatening build was like the team's Dad, he was all hard exterior and soft gooey centre.   
"Aw man, I still love you Vinnie, and you too Ben"   
"Hey!" Swoops throws his arms up in a clear 'what about me?' Gesture.  
"Clearly not as much as you love Mashkov though" Ben winks, earning a laugh from the rest of the boys, while Pat stumbles over his words trying to defend himself.   
"Alright, What are you guys doing to Pat?"Kent sighs in exasperation, a hand coming up to grip Swoops' shoulder in passing as he struts toward his cubby.   
"Grilling him over his obsession with Mashkov" Swoops' supplies, throwing an arm over Pat's shoulder.   
Ben tilts his chin up to Kent in silent recognition, watching his face for anything indicating the state he was in yesterday, But Kent simply snorts a laugh and throws his bag down to get ready. 

"Parser, you could've hooked pattie up. You spent all night with Mashkov"  
Ben can't help watching Kent for a reaction, The whole time Ben's known Kent, he's never been one for making new friends, especially with gigantic hulking D-men that check like a fucking brick wall.  
Kent's shoulders tense and his tongue flicks out to wet his lips in a nervous habit before he shrugs it off "yeah, that was pretty weird, he wasn't giving you a hard time or anything right parser?" Walshy questions, and the air in the room quickly changes from amused to defensive.  
All of the boys were very touchy when it came to Kent, the whole team was pretty ride or die for each other, but with Kent it was a whole other thing entirely.

Kent snorts "Mashkov? He wouldn't hurt a fly"  
This earns a disbelieving scoff from Vinnie "well I guess the next time he checks your ass into the boards we won't interfere"   
"Mashkov's alright. I'll hook you up next time for sure, Pattiecake"   
Pat groans, his cheeks flushing red while Vinnie and Swoops shake him around like a rag doll.  
"Please tell me you're not bringing that back"   
"Aw c'mon, Pattiecake" Vinnie jabs, ruffling his hair while Swoops has the rookie in a headlock, not for the first time, Ben starts to wonder how a team of actual children have survived in adult life this long.   
"I hate you all" 

Ben's eyes flick back to Kent, who for a moment almost looks relieved at the change of subject.  
Kent has a habit of stealthily avoiding conversations this way, he jokes and flashes that Parson charm, and before you know it your onto a completely different topic, Ben has determinedly attempted to get a serious conversation out of Kent on many occasions, but somethings are just locked up inside their captain like Pandora's box.

 

Ben lets it go this time, really he's glad that Kent has friends outside the team, and he's not about to interrogate him over it. Kent has a tendency to act like an abused animal, rather than outright confront Kent, Ben has learned to slowly coax him out of his own head, which helps Him sometimes, but other times Kent would prefer suffering through whatever's bothering him Alone, which is his decision, and Ben supposes he has no right to argue that.

He should be glad when Kent starts behaving differently, for the better, Ben thinks. But he's never seen Kent like this before: it started with his attitude, Kent wasn't exactly an asshole, but he had this smart ass air about him that usually rubbed people the wrong way, Ben knew it was a defence mechanism for Kent feeling uncomfortable with communication, and if anything Kent was always amusing for the sake of not being serious.  
Lately though, Kent had changed.   
It's not as if he were waltzing around like a ray of sunshine brightening everyone's day, Because that's not Kent, He was still his usual, sarcastic, shit-stirring, self but with a quiet, almost shy, Content beneath the surface.   
Overall Ben noticed how calm Parse was, which was strange, because Kent ran like a machine, constantly busying himself so there was no time for any inconveniences. Like a shark, If Kent parson stops moving he will surely die.   
It's what makes him such an exceptional hockey player, Captain and friend. 

A few weeks later Kent had been out of town for the weekend between games, and had returned bruised up like a mishandled peach, the expanse of his throat doted with Purple marks the shape of mouths, Which wasn't really a sight so rare, (Kent had a bit of a reputation for a reason after all) but what was different this time was the pink, somewhat bashful flush that enveloped Kent's face when he was called out on them.

"Wild night?" Swoops had smirked, pulling his pads on methodically, as he looked up at their captain.  
Kent ducked his head in embarrassment, which was a first for him, Kent was never quiet about the women he was entertaining the previous night, but having said that he was always respectful, which was something rare in a locker room full of men, Ben had been in many an adult conversation where other men didn't share the same philosophy.  
"Damn Parser, where do you find these chicks?" Walshy had tutted, jabbing a particularly thorough hickey on the skin behind his ear.  
Kent swatted his hand away with an amused grunt.  
"You kidding? They probably throw themselves at him" Pat huffed, sounding a little jealous.  
Kent laughs at this "aw Pattie, I had no idea you felt this way" he croons, sliding into Patrick's lap on his bench, pinching his cheek for added effect, to the amusement of the whole locker room.  
Pat grumbles his annoyance, but his skin grows two shades darker, Ben supposes you can't really blame the kid, most people would be a lot more than flustered with a lap full of Kent Parson.  
"How do you do it? The last girl I tried to pick up ruffled my hair and called me 'sweet' How do you recover from that?" Ben couldn't help a laugh forming at the back of his throat, Patrick was only 19, and he looked it. Big puppy dog eyes and awkward limbs still growing into proportion with his body, the kid had all the sexual allure of a baby giraffe.   
"For starters, I'd recommend not trying to pick up your mom, Pat" Swoops chuckles, "by the way is she still single?"   
Ben shakes his head, coughing over the laugh crawling up his throat. Swoops has a thing for older women, despite the fact he's in his twenties.  
The last woman he was dating was some big shot lawyer in her thirties, who the whole team was too scared of to chirp the hell out of him for it.  
"Screw you, Swoops"   
"Hey that's no way to talk to your father, Pattie" Kent mock chides, laughing deeply when Patrick's t-shirt is thrown at his head.

It's refreshing to see Kent so happy, comfortable, Ben doesn't think he's ever seen him happy like this before, not to say that he's never genuinely happy, but this just seems a different kind entirely.

Over the following months Kent slowly seems more and more comfortable in his own skin, he laughs more, spends more time with the team and his friends, and he's playing like a complete beast, Ben has rarely ever seen Parse's emotions affect the way he plays (apart from the moments he's playing on the same ice as Jack Zimmermann) and there's something so satisfying about seeing Kent so content, He hardly doubts he's the only person to notice. 

 

It's a few months after this that the team and their wives are over for Kendrick's third birthday party, Along with a lot of squealing children from his playgroup and a few of the neighbourhood kids, Kenny Jr is running around the yard in his Falcon costume, Vinnie's little girl Maria trailing along behind him dressed as misty knight, Angie had taken so many pictures.  
The whole team had even dressed up, swoops as iron man, Patrick in a spider-man costume, But probably the best one was Kent, who after some begging on Kenny Jr's end had dressed up in full captain America costume.   
Speaking of, their captain had gone awol shortly after the cake.  
Ben wrapped his arms around Angie's waist hanging himself over her shoulder as she cleared up the empty plates and dishes from around the table.  
Angie huffed in amusement, "don't tell me you're tired already?"  
Ben groaned "children are exhausting"   
She laughed, brown eyes rolling back as she nudged his face with her nose, "you should be used to it at this point, you're on a team full of them"   
Swoops snags a cupcake from the table, "sick burn Ange"   
She accepts the fist-bump before turning back to Ben, reaching a hand up to trace his jaw-line lovingly. He kisses her forehead and glances around the yard "you seen parser?"  
"He ducked out to get Kenny's gift, I swear if that boy got him something ridiculous We're gonna have a problem"  
Ben chuckles, Angie could probably give Parser a run for his money. She plays right defence for the NWHL's expansion team here in Vegas, as well as team USA, That's how Ben met her, he was a huge fan before she would even give him the time of day. When she finally did agree to a date, Ben was so damn charmed by her he would've given her the world to see her again.  
"Oh god, if it's another giant fucking bouncy castle I'll help" 

Ben finds Kent in the living room carting a large gift bag and what appears to be some kind of pet carrier under his arm, his other hand pressing a phone to his ear.   
"I miss you too" Ben freezes at the sound of Kent speaking, debating on whether or not he should just duck back outside.  
But the way Kent positively lights up at something the person on the other end of the call said intrigued him far too much.  
"I can't wait to see you either, I've been counting the days like some over eager school girl"   
His laughter fills the house, "I'll hold you to that. alright, you better go, call me tomorrow? Okay. I know baby, this weekend I'll make it up to you. Bye, Alyosha"  
Ben doesn't mean to listen to the conversation, but he can't help catching the end of it, hearing the hushed almost romantic way Kent was speaking, the fondness in his tone and the completely besotted look on his face, as he stands frozen in the archway to the living room.  
Kent presses the top of his phone to his lips when he hangs up, eyes closed and a small dream like smile on his face, Ben decides he should probably speak up now.  
"So this is where you snuck off to" He grins, startling Kent, who slides his phone into his pocket faster than strictly necessary, "everything alright?"  
"yeah, just- Mom called. and I had to pick up this little angel" he holds up the carrier proudly, a small furry creature peeking out from within it.   
"Oh god, what did you do?" Ben pinches the bridge of his nose, Parse had a habit of going above and beyond whenever a team mates kid was involved, He's one of those people who are instantly any child's favourite person, they flocked to him, admired him, and Kent was good with them. On more than one occasion he's babysat a few of the guys kids and he's always helping Angie with Kenny.  
Kent grins, setting the carrier down and pulling out a caramel brown pit-bull puppy with a red bow tied around his collar.   
"Meet The newest edition to the fur-lers" he grins, looking extremely proud of himself.  
Ben pinches the bridge of his nose in disbelief "Angie's gonna kill you"   
Kent looks completely unfazed, "c'mon, Jr needs a friend. One that won't try to take his eyes out if he cuddles her" (kit happens to not be very fond of small children) he emphasis by snuggling the little dog and giving Ben puppy dog eyes that could rival his gift's.   
"My mum adopted a rescue pitty for my birthday when I was 12 and she was my best friend. They're gentle and loving and this little guy will grow up with Ken, it's the perfect present"   
Ben thinks about this, looking back to the puppy, who's now curling himself against Kent's chest. He's cute, and Ben has heard that pit-bull's are good companions, and they grow big so he'll protect Ken in the future. The dog is certainly not the worst present Kent has given Ken.  
"Alright, but it's not me you have to convince" he throws his hands up, no matter what he thinks, what Angie says goes.

Kent's phone chimes in his pocket, as they rejoin the party outside, and Ben can see that his captain is physically restraining himself from checking it.  
Maybe Parse has a girlfriend, Alyosha is a pretty strange name but he's heard stranger, he wonders if they're serious or not-

An ear-piercing squeal interrupts his thoughts as Ken jr comes barreling across the yard towards them as fast as his little legs will take him, coming to a stop right at Kent's feet and looking up at him with that awed excitement like he always does (because Kent more often than not is carrying a gift for him, even if it's something small)   
"Uncle Ken!" He stamps his feet and slurs up at him in his high pitched little voice, "your puppy, uncle Ken?" He's managed to get the attention of the little dog now, who's looking down at him curiously.  
Kent squats to his level, "this is your puppy, Jr. happy birthday!" He grins, the little puppy is sniffing at Ken now, and Ken looks like he's about to faint from sheer excitement.  
"Mine?" He asks, looking up at Ben for confirmation, as Kent shows him how to hold him.  
"You have to be gentle with him, okay?" Ben warns, Ken nods vigorously, his curls bouncing and Ben melts, he does get lonely, and Ben couldn't imagine what it's like growing up without siblings, he's been trying to sweet talk Angie into having another baby.

Speaking of his wife: Angie comes stalking over now, looking like she's about to slap the shit out of not only Kent but Ben too for allowing it.  
Ben's bracing himself for another one of Kenny and Angie's famous show downs (they adore each other but are both far too good at getting on the others nerves to act as though they do) she stops short of slapping Kent upside the head when she sees how Their son is cuddling the puppy, giggling and squirming as it licks at his chubby cheeks. 

Angie sighs in defeat, "You're lucky the dog's cute, Parson" she growls, but Ben can see she's just as charmed by the new animal as Ken is.   
They've been thinking of getting Jr a small pet for a while now, something to keep him company, but they were thinking more along the lines of a bird or a fish, something he can take care of without being so hands on. Thanks parser.  
"What are you gonna call him, little man?" Kent asks. Ken hums, tilting his head in consideration like he's really thinking hard about it, a smile breaks out across his face and he Snuggles the dog closer to his chest before saying "Kitty!" Looking proud of his decision.  
Angie laughs, "baby, that's a puppy dog not a cat"  
But Ken won't have any of it, he just looks at Kent and says "kitty, uncle Ken"  
And Kent, of course, says "a puppy named kitty, it's perfect!" 

While Angie's talking to Ken about what he'll have to do to take care of his puppy, Ben turns to his captain, Who's smiling down at something on his phone while he types at a blinding pace.  
Ben doesn't really know what's gotten into him nowadays but, whatever it is that's making him so happy can only mean good things.   
Maybe this 'Alyosha' is a good fit for Kent.

The second time they play the falconers, Kent is a lot calmer, he seems to be in a good mood leading up to their game and during warm ups.  
Swoops slides up to him while he's stretching, ducking his head to keep their conversation between the two of them.   
"Yo, you see number 7?"   
Ben glances across the ice, his eyes finding Mashkov fairly easily considering the guy is so huge and is laughing so jovially Ben is legitimately surprised it's not shaking the ice.  
"What about him?"   
Swoops leans in a little closer, "he's staring at Parser"   
Ben frowns, following the line of The defence man's gaze, he's talking with Zimmermann and their goalie, snow?, every so often though his eyes flick back up to Kent, who's laughing at something Vinnie and he are talking about.  
Ben looks back to Mashkov, who's now openly gazing across the ice at their captain, it seems innocent enough but there's an intensity to it that rubs Ben the wrong way.  
He feels his protective streak flare.  
"Watch for him tonight, okay? I don't want him getting too close to Parse"   
"I thought they were buddies?"   
"This is hockey. there's no such thing on the ice" Ben deadpans. 

 

The night they play the sharks for a spot in the playoffs, Kent is wired. It's not just from the hockey rush, Ben knows his best friend and he knows what certain emotions look like with Kent, being there for his captain requires a lot of patience and observation after all, and Ben has never gotten a read on Kent that's turned out to be wrong.  
Call him the repressed, hockey prodigy whisperer.

He was immediately suspicious when Kent rushed out of the locker room like a bat out of hell. He usually isn't one to turn down a good celebration with the boys, especially after such a good game.   
He didn't want to push to hard on Kenny though,  
Because he knew his captain did enough of that for everyone, and Kent was doing so good lately, he didn't want to mess with that, so he'd simply let Kenny leave and went for drinks with the guys without him.

Honestly there's rarely a dull moment when the Aces are together, but there's something about the hype after a win that only seems to make the team that much more hilarious.

By the time they get back to the hotel it's at least around midnight, going into the early hours of the morning. Which is why it's so concerning when he keys into His and Kent's room to find it empty, Kent's bag isn't here, and his bed is made, it's as if he was never here.   
Call him a drama queen but he's worried, Parse doesn't just go wandering around the city with his damn hockey bag after a long ass game, and he doesn't lie to Ben about what he's doing unless he's upset.   
So, he double checks with reception to see if Kent had checked in tonight, he hasn't, and decides a phone call just to check in and make sure he's not alone and beating himself up somewhere is the very least he can do for his best man. 

Now, if you would've previously told Ben that Kent Parson has been in a relationship secretly for months he would've laughed in your face.  
Kent is the most independent person he knows, who probably could have tons of men and women hanging off his arm constantly, but prefers to live without the hassle.   
The boy has no understanding of romance whatsoever, he hates rom coms, thinks Romeo and Juliet should be forgotten because "it's pretty damn clear Shakespeare's just having a laugh about how fucking stupid and irrelevant young love is" and he replies to fan's valentines with pictures of his cat and gift cards to liquor stores (hilarious, but not the point)   
The idea that Kent could have feelings for anyone except Britney Spears is completely insane and yet…

Mashkov. Not only did Ben somehow completely miss that Kenny had a Boyfriend not a girlfriend, but he failed to notice Mashkov being hopelessly in love with his best friend, which suddenly makes all the times he was ready to throw down for Kent completely stupid and adorable (Ben loves love)   
He'll admit he was a little hurt by the secrets, considering Kent knows just about everything about him, but he understands why Kent had to do it, and he just feels honoured that Kenny would even choose to share it with him. 

If the media caught wind of this though it'd be a complete shit storm, homophobia is still a huge issue in most sports, and the witch hunt against 2 successful, bisexual players in the NHL would be horrendous.   
It'd be nice really if they could be open with their relationship the way a man and a woman can be, but in this world Ben knows it's not exactly realistic and a fantasy at best. He hates it, but he can't change it. 

What he can do is protect Kent, even if the odds are against them Ben won't let anything hurt his best friend.

**Author's Note:**

> Because Kenny deserves love God damn it. And 'cause Im legitimate patater trash.  
> Multiple chapters still to come maybe?


End file.
